CIMM Committee Report

Supplementary Report of Her Majesty’s Official Opposition
The Conservative Party of Canada

Hon. Michelle Rempel, Member of Parliament for Calgary Nose Hill
David Tilson, Member of Parliament for Dufferin – Caledon
Larry Maguire, Member of Parliament for Brandon – Souris

INTRODUCTION

Canada is and has always been a welcoming land for immigrants. This comes with the responsibility to ensure newcomers integrate into Canada’s social and economic fabric, as defined by acquiring proficiency in one of Canada’s official languages, becoming self-sufficient, and respecting and upholding the rule of Canadian law.

In some cases, this worthy endeavor, or what is broadly referred to as “settlement services” activities in this report, requires a significant amount of taxpayer funded resources and planning. This requires adequate budgeting, and also requires legislators do to so in the lens of ensuring that the needs of Canadians are met, within the context of a balanced federal budget.

This supplementary report provides clarity on several key points that were not addressed by the report which was produced by the government members of the committee, and additional recommendations to improve the quality and the availability of settlement services in Canada.

1.) Restore the Integrity of Newcomer Selection and Approval Processes

The number of people accessing settlement services in Canada is large and growing. According to data provided by the Department of Citizenship and Immigration (IRCC), “[i]n 2018-2019, [IRCC] has funded over 500 organizations and provided services to approximately 460,000 clients.”[1]. There are significant budgetary implications to this.

That is why it is vital for the government to ensure that immigration selection processes a) prioritize the world’s most vulnerable persons to come to Canada as refugees, b) ensure that our asylum system is not being abused, and c) that our economic immigration streams focus on matching intake directly to the needs of the Canadian economy.

On all these points, the government is failing. That has significant opportunity costs related to settlement services.

For example, the Liberal government failed to bring Yazidi genocide survivors to Canada as part of the Syrian refugee initiative. It took several opposition motions and political pressure for the Liberal government to acknowledge that the United Nations had failed to refer these people to Canada. This must change.

In recent years, we have seen the Liberal government allow over 45,000 persons to illegally cross the border from the United States into Canada, and then subsequently claim asylum. These persons exploit a loophole in the Canada-United States Safe Third Country Agreement to do so. Many of these persons do not have valid asylum claims, but are eligible to access language training and other settlement services. This is not fair to those who play by the rules.

Further, unplanned significant intake of refugees without budgeting for the impact on settlement services, as we saw with the Syrian refugee initiative, detrimentally impacts the efficacy and availability for this programs. This prevents newcomers from accessing services that could help them more quickly integrate.

To ensure fairness in Canada’s immigration system and to ensure that settlement services are available for those who play by the rules, we recommend:

1. That the Government of Canada close the loophole in the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement.

2.) Metrics

We know from the Auditor General’s 2017 Fall Report 3—Settlement Services for Syrian Refugees that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada did not establish service expectations in most of its contribution agreements with service providers. As a result, IRCC was less able to ensure the quality and consistency of services provided to Syrian refugees and other clients.

This same report noted concern about the Department’s inability to track whether the Syrian refugees had access to basic provincial services, such as health care and education—especially considering that part of the Department’s objective was to help Syrian refugees benefit from Canada’s social, medical, and economic systems. The Department did not collect any information for the following 5 health care and education indicators:

• the percentage of Syrian refugees with chronic health issues who had health care providers,
• the percentage of Syrian refugees with chronic health issues who had health care providers and were satisfied with the health care they received,
• the percentage of school-aged children who were attending school,
• the percentage of Syrian refugee families who had school-aged children with special needs, and
• the percentage of Syrian refugee families who had school-aged children with special needs that were being addressed.

Throughout the Committee’s study, it became apparent that there is no consistently defined or measured metric for the success of resettlement services, as it relates to measuring successful integration outcomes.

This creates a lack of ability to determine what programs work, or the level of impact the programs have on integration. Therefore, we recommend that:

2. Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada develop clear metrics for integration and ensure that all service providers meet these standards.

3.) Privately Sponsored Refugees

Privately sponsored refugees (PSRs) typically integrate better than government-assisted refugees (GARs) according to the Executive Director of The Neighbourhood Organization[2]. For example, in the Syrian refugees’ cohort, 43% of GARs were employed compared to 60% of PSRs.[3] This can partially be explained by the support and the connections they form through their relationship with sponsors.

Unfortunately, GARs do not benefit from this relationship. Moreover, “many GARs are arriving with health, mental health and physical limitations.”[4] This demonstrates that stronger services need to be offered to them, especially to vulnerable newcomers who suffered trauma and/or are continuing to experience trauma.[5]

Given this evidence, we recommend that:

3. Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada focus refugee intake selection via sponsorship agreement holders, while reforming the GAR program to ensure that spaces are filled by those experiencing emergent situations of the four atrocity crimes.

4.) Settlement Services for Refugees who Suffered Trauma

Many witnesses testified during this study that there was a lack of services aimed at helping refugees or immigrants that have suffered trauma prior to coming to Canada. Some refugees suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder that needs to be addressed in order for them to be able to integrate to Canada.[6] More than that, as stated by Zdravko Cimbaljevic, a human rights advocate, “[t]here is a need for increased support for mental health for newcomers and refugees. The adjustments are frequently far more difficult than anyone realizes.”[7]

Carl Cardogan, the Executive Director at the Reception House in the Waterloo Region, explained how difficult it is for a smaller region to respond to the mental health needs of refugees:

Allocate funding for initial mental health assessments and support for clients who suffer from severe trauma. It might be a first step in dealing with this very serious issue. We have seen an increase in very serious and chronic health issues. We are trying to respond in ways that make sense, but our community is a small one. The health system isn't always ready and willing to be flexible, and we want to see ways in which IRCC can have a broader impact on the provinces to do more for those people who are coming to our region.[8]

This difficulty to access mental health services has many ramifications that ultimately impede refugees’ and immigrants’ success in integrating to the Canadian society. For example, as Ms. Andy Foster stated:

It's hard to focus on studying English when you have no way to get help with [PTSD] first. […] We've definitely had that experience where it's hard for students to focus, and a lot of other issues come out. English is almost the least of their worries at that point. […] Having more programs available for people when they come, letting them know they have psychotherapists and the like whom they can go to for the first year—in smaller towns, people often don't even know that's available for them—and translators and interpreters.[9]

These services, which should be culturally competent[10], are paramount “to ensure that newcomers can maintain their employment and progress economically” as stated Olga Stachova, the Chief Executive Officer at MOSAIC.[11]

This said, it is important to note that many Canadians, and Canadian veterans do not have ready access to these services, and there must be a balance struck. Ensuring that only the worlds most vulnerable are selected as refugees, while ensuring Canadians have access to these services is vital.

4. Work to provide better access to mental health services for Canadians, and refugees, in an immigration system that prioritizes the worlds most vulnerable persons and prevents the abuse of Canada’s humanitarian immigration system.

5.) Family reunification

No settlement services could ever replace the benefits of having the support of a family member, and unfortunately, there are many difficulties faced by refugees, particularly victims of genocide, to bring their family members to Canada.

Considering the importance of family reunification for a successful integration, it is not acceptable that refugees who are genocide survivors face so many difficulties in trying to bring their family members to Canada. Witnesses highlighted the different treatment faced by refugees:

Refugees who are genocide survivors wait much longer for family reunification than newcomers in the Family Class. In December 2016, the government announced faster processing for spousal sponsorships, but no measures have been announced to expedite family reunification for refugees. Family reunification processing time for children under family class averaged 15 months in 2015. In comparison, processing time for family members of refugees averaged 38 months in the same year.[13]

It is important to remember that refugees who are genocide survivors coming to Canada have often faced the loss of many family members, and that their conception of family is extended. Consequently, it is important that family reunification be possible and processed in a timely manner.

Therefore, we recommend that:

5. Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada improve the wait times and the efficiency of the family reunification’s process for refugees who are genocide survivors, as well as extending the definition of family members for survivors of genocide.

6.) Accessible and Relevant Services

There is no point in making public expenditures on settlement services if they are ineffectual or hard to access.

Matthew Cecchetto, the Liaison Officer, Canadian Orientation Abroad, for the International Organization for Migration, stated:

Refugees are resilient and positively contribute to Canadian society. Their outcomes improve when they are provided services that are tailored to their needs. All newcomers require support, but for refugees some needs cannot be met by services designed for other categories of immigrants.[14]

Unfortunately, these needs have not been met by the current government, mainly due to a lack of planning. Again, governments need to show compassion and be prepared for the arrival persons who likely suffered trauma before coming to Canada. This was particularly highlighted by Carl Cardogan, the Executive Director of the Reception House in the Waterloo Region, who explained that:

Many GARs are arriving with health, mental health and physical limitations. IRCC must review the needs of these people and look to how we can better respond as they arrive. For example, our site is not accessible and this severely inhibits our ability to serve newcomers with mobility issues.[15]

Another example stems from the lack of organization for the Syrian refugee resettlement initiative that ultimately impacted the successful integration for these refugees who had experienced a civil war in their home country. An example was brought forward by the representative from the International Organization for Migration:

In IRCC's rapid impact evaluation of the Syrian refugee initiative in 2016, the department cited that the lack of COA due to logistical issues meant that the basic information Syrian refugees were expected to have upon arrival had to be provided in Canada, making their initial resettlement stages even more difficult.[16]

Planning is therefore essential, especially when deciding to welcome refugees or to increase immigration levels plans and we recommend that:

6. Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada plan the orderly migration of refugees to Canada, taking into consideration the resources available to ensure Canada is able to welcome newcomers with compassion and care.

7.) Modernizing Settlement Services

Canada is a large country, and it is difficult to provide adequate settlement services in every region in Canada in a cost-efficient model. That is why the government should better exploit technologies to provide settlement services to newcomers.

An example comes from the Refugee Centre in Montreal. They developed an application called LUNA to help newcomers navigate the Canadian immigration system. This application uses the newcomers’ native language and uses short and concise questions to provide counsel on immigration processes and how to fill out forms. As Executive Director Abdulla Daoud explained the application helps save 83% of lawyers’ time since they save money on translation and on additional counsels.[17] Unfortunately, the application cannot currently be implemented nationally because the organization lacks the funding.

Another example is the pilot project for blended learning for students used in the Burnaby School District, which takes online platforms for language learning to allow students flexibility to maintain employment.[18]

These technologies can help reduce costs without compromising the quality of the settlement services. Considering the increase in newcomers coming to Canada, this should be better developed by IRCC. Therefore, we recommend:

7. That Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada increase the use of innovative technology to provide certain settlement services to newcomers that do not necessarily require face to face interventions.

8.) Access in Rural Communities

There are many communities in rural Canada that need newcomers to help fuel their economy, and there are many communities that want to do more to help refugees. Yet, we heard through testimony that it can be very difficult to bring newcomers to rural Canada because all the settlement services are concentrated in large urban centres.

On this issue, Ms. Andy Foster, Project Coordinator, Arden Language Centre, stated:

Give rural Canadians the tools to help. Right now there's a lot of frustration because when newcomers come to the area, there are not any resettlement services, but having a mobile resettlement centre would really help a lot. This mobile centre could have a representative who would answer questions to sponsors, do ESL training seminars for those who want to volunteer, and do English testing for the students.[19]

Therefore, we recommend that:

8. Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship adequately provide settlement services to rural regions to ensure integration and retention.

CONCLUSION

The Liberal government has failed to adequately prioritize the world’s most vulnerable in our humanitarian immigration system and has prompted the abuse of our asylum system. This, coupled with poor planning after the Syrian refugee initiative, has placed great strain on Canada’s settlement services system. Much improvement is required.