CCR Resolutions Database

That the CCR urge CIC to simplify the overseas refugee determination process, and to eliminate the perennial backlog by not re-interviewing UNHCR referred GARs, and through temporary staff re-deployments.

That:

1. The draft Essential Principles, as amended by the Working Group on Inland Protection, be approved in principle as the present position of the CCR.
2. The Executive of the CCR be empowered to revise and amend the draft Essential Principles, taking into account feedback from the membership, insofar as such revisions and amendments are in accord with the principles and policies of the CCR.
3. The CCR publicize the Essential Principles and encourage its members to do likewise.

That the CCR call on the Canadian government to urge the re-examination of UNHCR ’s responsibility toward Palestinian refugees, suggested by the second paragraph of Article 1(d), the so-called “exclusion clause”, and include the second paragraph in their statutes as a basis for extending human rights protection and inclusivity, thus affirming the intention of the 1951 Refugee Convention.

That the CCR urge CIC and MRCI to:

1. Recognize the extent of these special needs and reflect this in the training and resourcing of federally funded settlement service providers and those funded through provincial partnerships or programs.
2. Together with other relevant federal departments, provincial counterparts and educational institutions training health care providers, to seek ways to address the training needs of health providers with respect to refugee trauma and torture and cross-cultural awareness.
3. Review the current RAP allocation model and upgrade dollars and timeframes to better support these special needs.

That the CCR:

1. Urge CIC to keep all current private sponsorship files in Turkey open until all avenues have been pursued and until such time as an agreement can be reached with the SAH representatives, and to lift the ban on new undertakings, pending a solution(s) to the exit permit issues.
2. Urge the government of Canada to continue working with the Multilateral Technical Committee to find a solution(s) to the current and future Turkish exit permit issues.
3. Urge CIC to respect the terms of the SAH agreement (Principles b and g) and work in full collaboration with elected SAH representatives in further negotiations.
4. Urge UNHCR to take proactive steps to assist in facilitating the departure from Turkey of persons accepted by the Canadian visa post.

That the CCR write to the Prime Minister of Canada demanding that Canada:

1. Make a public condemnation of torture in Iraq and Afghanistan by US and coalition forces, and ask for the US administration to:
   a) Adhere to the international legal instruments against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
   b) Train US military personnel and other enforcement official to adhere to these human rights standards.
   c) Allow outside inspection of US-controlled jails, detention centres and other facilities where persons are detained.
   d) Designate an independent ombudsperson to receive complains about torture and other human rights abuses.
2. Accede to the UN Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and encourage other countries – including and especially the USA – to do the same.

That the CCR call upon the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to develop guidelines for his officers to ensure that the best interests of children affected by a deportation decision are given "primary consideration" as required by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and that, for greater certainty, on public policy grounds, there is a presumption that deportation of the parent of a minor child in Canada would not be in the child's best interest.

That the CCR encourage the involvement and participation of youth at every CCR consultation by designating a local youth organizing committee and furthermore that the CCR support youth participation.

That CCR write to Treasury Board and CIC urging them to:

1. Stop the implementation of iCAMS until the issues between CIC national and CIC region have been resolved.
2. Review the iCAMS system in light of the new Voluntary Sector agreement to ensure that it conforms with the Code of Good Practices on Funding.
3. Take into consideration CCR's previous resolutions from May 2001(Res. 1), Dec. 2000 (Res. 16) and May 1999 (Res. 4).

That the CCR:

1. Strongly urge the Minister to amend IRPA to include statelessness as a ground for protection (both in Canada and for resettlement).
2. In the alternative, use the authority of subsection 25(1) to establish "protection of stateless persons" as a public policy category for permanent residence and amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations to include statelessness as a ground for resettlement to Canada.
3. As an interim measure urge CIC to amend the Immigration Manual, Chapter IP5, to include statelessness as a factor for landing in H&C applications. ID requirements and establishment requirements should be waived in view of the special hardships faced by stateless persons.

That the CCR ask CIC and the IRB to release refugee claimants who satisfy their identity requirements, without a bond.

That the CCR:

1. Call on the Immigration and Refugee Board to ensure that in all of its regions a request for change of venue not be rejected where a claimant can show that hardship would result from such a rejection.
2. Call on the IRB and CIC to allow persons to choose their place of hearing where hardship would result from a refusal to grant this choice.

That the CCR work with the UNHCR and with the UN committee that monitors the Hague Convention and with the Departments of Justice of the provinces which are parties to the Hague Convention to ensure that these two international covenants are applied in a manner that does not interfere with a child's right to have a refugee claim determined and not to be refouled to a country where she has a well-founded fear of persecution.

That the CCR endorse the following Client Code of Service Rights and encourage its use by CCR member organizations:

1. You have the right to receive services in a trusting, respectful and supportive environment free of any form of discrimination or harassment.
2. You have the right of privacy and confidentiality and to disclose only what you believe is necessary at any given time.
3. Staff limits of confidentiality include: the requirement to report incidents of child abuse, to comply with a court ordered subpoena and to prevent harm.
4. The file is the property of [Agency name] and you have the right to review it and make comments if you disagree with the contents of the file.
5. You make decisions about your needs and goals.
6. You have the right to refuse services at any time or to request service from an alternate person.
7. You have the right to receive accurate, complete and timely information.
8. You have the right to a safe, fair and transparent complaint process when you feel that your rights have been violated.

That the CCR:

1. Call on the Government of Canada to urge the UNHCR to provide humanitarian aid adequate for the safety, health and maintenance of these vulnerable populations.
2. Urge Citizenship and Immigration Canada to expedite early resettlement of persons in urgent need of resettlement.

That CCR call upon the federal and provincial governments to establish procedures to ensure effective access to counsel for all immigration detainees, including free telephone access and face to face communication with counsel.

That the CCR:

1. Request CIC to develop an immediate protection mechanism leading to permanent residence in Canada to protect trafficked women and children and that the necessary resources and support structures be put in place to sustain the program.
2. Urge that the Urgent Protection Program be expanded to include trafficked persons and that their immediate family grouping be kept intact since family members left behind may be at risk.

That the CCR:

1. Ask the Government of Canada to accept requests from survivors or the families of victims for a full independent public inquiry into their cases and the conditions surrounding their arrest, removal to torture and the role of the Canadian officials.
2. Urge the US government to make a similar public inquiry into the cases of Canadian citizens returned to torture.
3. Request that the Canadian public inquiry have the utmost transparency with the aim of shedding light on the role of Canadian officials in protecting Canadian citizens and verifying the methods of torture used against our fellow-citizens overseas and on the role of other governments in subjecting Canadians to torture or other cruel and unusual treatment.
4. Promote Canada's working towards the non-derogable right of every human person not to be sent to torture.
5. Urge that, even in extreme cases of security suspicion, Canadian citizens overseas be returned to Canada for further investigation and possible prosecution rather than sent to torture.
6. Appeal to the Canadian government to play an effective role in rehabilitation, redress and compensation in the cases of Canadian citizens who have been tortured overseas.
7. Petition the Government of Canada to take all necessary steps to maintain Canadian global leadership in the exposure, prevention and eradication of torture and the need for its absolute prohibition.
8. Ask the Government of Canada to take immediate diplomatic, economic and political action against governments that have tortured and will torture Canadian citizens or send them to torture.
9. Solicit the Government of Canada to use regional and intergovernmental agencies, where possible, such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the UN Committee Against Torture and the UN Committee on Human Rights to object to the treatment of Canadian citizens overseas.
10. Encourage the Canadian Government to take immediate action to intervene in the cases of all Canadians who are languishing in overseas jails and are subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.

That the CCR:

1. Urge the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to amend section 30(2) omitting the exception.
2. Contact all the provincial Ministers of Education and urge them to ensure that all minor children are admitted to schools in Canada free of charge without regard to their immigration status.
3. Work with local groups such as the Education Rights Task Force in Ontario to develop strategies to ensure that all minor children have free access to education everywhere in Canada regardless of their immigration status.

That the CCR express to CIC-NHQ (Integration), CIC BC Region and the BC Ministry of Community, Aboriginal and Women's Services concerns about the threat posed to service quality, accessibility, professionalism and community connectedness by 'Open tendering' and the potential transfer of settlement services away from the current network of community-based agencies.

That the CCR urge CIC to:

1. Increase the overall amount of money available for immigrant services.
2. Include a consideration of secondary migration in the calculation of the funding allocation formula.

That the CCR:

1. Urge the Canadian Government to require that visa officers advise refugees and other applicants for permanent residence of the option to apply for Ministerial Relief pursuant to s. 34(2) of IRPA in cases where they are considering rejection of their case pursuant to s. 34(1).
2. Write to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration about the significance of Ministerial Relief and ask the Minister to act more generously in issuing Ministerial Relief.

That the CCR request that CIC and the IRB review their data management and reporting systems to ensure the accurate and timely collection and reporting of statistics relating to statelessness, in particular:

• refugee status determination hearings when statelessness was a factor (numbers, country of residence)
• H&C applications of stateless cases (numbers accepted, numbers rejected, countries of habitual residence)
• detention of stateless persons (length of detention, reason for detention, country of habitual residence, place of detention, age, gender)
• removals of stateless persons (including country of habitual residence, age, gender, country removed to).
• resettlement of stateless persons.

That the CCR call upon the IRB to:

1. Withdraw the requirement that the Refugee Protection Officer or Member examine a claimant prior to the claimant's counsel.
2. Withdraw the ability of the IRB to schedule hearings without regard to counsel's calendars.
3. Direct Members not to impose a video-conferencing hearing on a claimant in the face of a claimant's objection.
4. Amend the guidelines to delete the direction to Board members to restrict the length and content of a claimant’s counsel’s submissions.
5. Add clear guidelines on the treatment of vulnerable claimants in the Guidelines on the Conduct of Hearings.

That the CCR call upon the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to amend the Regulations [R. 1(3)] so that "family member" of a "protected person" includes the parent and siblings of a "protected person" who is a minor.