harper govt closing canada's doors to refugees: proof by numbers

From Embassy:
When Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced sweeping reforms to Canada's refugee determination process at the end of March, he promised to increase the number of UN-selected refugees that resettle in Canada by 2,500 to maintain "balance."

But despite a persistent notion that Canada is a generous country that graciously welcomes thousands of refugees each year, Citizenship and Immigration Canada records show the Conservative government has been gradually but significantly granting fewer refugees permanent residence status since 2006. The decrease worries experts and advocates, who say the government is trying to quietly close refugees out.

Each year, CIC prepares an immigration plan as part of its plans and priorities, highlighting permanent residency targets for different categories of migrants. Government-assisted refugees, privately-sponsored refugees, inland refugees and their dependants abroad make up the overall refugee category.

In 2006, the department projected granting a minimum of 32,800 refugees permanent residency. In 2010, that target had decreased by 40 per cent, to 19,600. In addition, the targets for inland refugees—those who made claims at the Canadian border and were accepted by the Immigration and Refugee Board—decreased by 54 per cent, from a minimum of 19,500 in 2006 to 9,000 in 2010. The latter number may in fact be even lower since, for the first time, it also includes dependants abroad (family members of already-accepted refugees).

The department's yearly performance reports, which shows actual refugee intake numbers, also reflected the drop. A total of 32,492 refugees became permanent residents in 2006, while only 21,800 fit that description in 2008 — a 32.7 per cent decrease. Inland refugees saw a decrease of 56 per cent, from 15,892 in 2006 to 6,994 in 2008.

. . . .

"I think [these numbers] reflect the overall closing of the doors on refugees, and it reflects that priority has increasingly been given to economic immigrants over family class and refugees," Ms. Dench said. "This highlights the contradiction between facts and discourse that the government has been pursuing, and it reflects the effort of the government of preventing refugees to make a claim."

Mr. Kenney's promise to increase by 2,500 the number of UN-approved refugees — which are represented as government-assisted and privately-sponsored refugees in CIC figures — is meant to deflect attention away from the overall decreasing numbers, alleged Tom Abel, settlement worker at the Toronto-based Romero House, a non-profit organization providing housing and advocating for refugees.

"Quite frankly, the Conservatives' intention is to lower the number of refugees coming in this country," Mr. Abel said. "This has been the predominant opinion of practitioners in Toronto and I think around the country."

Mr. Abel also said Canadians are dealing with "an archaic" understanding of Canada's worldwide refugee role.

"I honestly think that the government is being quite successful in gradually creating a system where people cannot make refugee claims in Canada," he said. "They are not overtly going to take any action to stop refugee claimants from coming to Canada, but they are going to work into it in a way that won't stir up negative public sentiment and will not raise suspicions in Canadians' minds that the government is giving up on its humanitarian traditions."

Read this excellent article here.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

sharia

This morning I see that Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Ontario, is banning the Muslim religious court known as sharia . This ends months of debate about whether sharia would be legal and binding in Ontario. I'm quoting at length from the story in today's Toronto Star because many US readers are likely not up on this. In a surprise announcement that caught both supporters and opponents of sharia law off guard, Premier Dalton McGuinty says he will move quickly to ban all religious arbitration in the province. McGuinty made the announcement in a telephone interview with The Canadian Press yesterday after months of debate and controversy surrounding use of Islamic sharia law in family arbitration. "I've come to the conclusion that the debate has gone on long enough," the premier told the news agency. "There will be no sharia law in Ontario. There will be no religious arbitration in Ontario. There will be one law for all Ontarians." The announcement prompted t...
Read more

can of worms

I'm opening a sticky subject here, my need to understand causing me to throw caution to the wind. It's about Alberta. Alberta vs. the rest of the Canada. The Globe And Mail runs something about Alberta's gripes every day, and I try to follow along. If it weren't for wmtc's resident Albertan , and the ensuing arguments in comments, I would've had no warning. It's not something Americans know about. As is, observing for more than a year, I have only the smallest of clues. Here's what I know. Please pardon my ignorance and oversimplification, but I have to start somewhere. The province of Alberta is rich, because it has oil. The province of Alberta is conservative, relative to the rest of Canada. Hmm. Funny how those two go together. Because of its great oil wealth, Alberta revenue helps fund services in the rest of Canada. (These are transfer payments?) Apparently many Albertans resent this. They want to keep Alberta's money in Alberta. They don't...
Read more

low confidence

I'm excited about today's no-confidence vote . Only three months after moving here, we'll get to see a government fall, a campaign, and an election, in a system very different from what we're accustomed to. Even the expression "the government will fall" strikes us as oddly dramatic and revolutionary. My sense of current Canadian politics, for what it's worth, tells me that very little will change from the upcoming election. I'd be surprised if the Liberals didn't win. So it's kind of cool to see this happening without a lot at stake. On a semi-tangential note, have I mentioned I'm completely down with "Corner Gas"? Excellent show; I love the deadpan humour. (Great website, too; check it out .) So was that really Finance Minister Ralph Goodale ragging on Brent Butt's camera last Saturday night?
Read more