Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration

Comité permanent de la citoyenneté et de l'immigration

For immediate release

Ottawa, October 5, 2016 -

On 5 October 2016, the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration tabled its sixth report in the House of Commons, entitled Distress Call: How Canada’s Immigration Program Can Respond to Reach the Displaced and Most Vulnerable.

The special study on which the report was based was opened by the Chair Borys Wrzesnewskyj stating the following:

"…the targeting of groups for ethnic cleansing is an ongoing reality in parts of the world—and then there is genocide. Every anniversary of the Holocaust, the Holodomor, and the Armenian genocide, we invoke the words, “never again”. Yet Srebrenica happened, Darfur happened, and Sinjar happened. As a consequence of ongoing threats of crimes against humanity, there are vulnerable populations in urgent need of sanctuary. The importance and urgency of the topic was recognized by all committee members. We’ll be examining ways for Canada to support targeted groups, including accelerated resettlement and other humanitarian measures."

The report examines immigration measures to support vulnerable groups in inaccessible regions, including accelerated resettlement and other humanitarian measures. Specifically, the Committee heard testimony concerning the plight of North Korean Defectors, Sikhs in Afghanistan, Eritrean refugees, the Yazidi People, persons persecuted based on their sexual orientation, the Rohingya in South East Asia, Ukrainians in the Donbas and Crimea, writers, Assyrians in Iraq and Syria, and South Sudanese nationals.

The study raised important policy considerations, such as what more could be done to assist internally displaced persons, how refugees are prioritized for resettlement to Canada, and how the refugee resettlement program could be improved and the potential for private sponsorship to be maximized.

The urgency of the need for action was highlighted by Balpreet Singh, Legal Counsel, World Sikh Organization of Canada, who stated, “right now there's no viable option for those individuals who are internally displaced”.

The Committee’s report makes five recommendations, notably, that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada improve the resettlement program by showing leadership in international fora to expand overall resettlement spaces, adopting best practices for processing at-risk populations quickly, and, where genocide is confirmed, examining the feasibility of using the Urgent Protection Program to provide relief within days. To address the protection needs of people residing in their country of origin, the Committee recommends establishing a special resettlement class for private sponsorships.