This fall the Minister of Immigration will be announcing the immigration levels for 2025 and beyond. The levels set will determine whether some refugees can receive protection in Canada, how long refugees and others will wait for permanent residence and how many years children will be forced to wait separated from their parents. The government has also announced that it will be setting levels for some categories of temporary residents.
The government needs to hear from Canadians that it is important to give a fair share of the immigration levels to refugees and to protect the rights of migrant workers!
We encourage organizations and individuals to write to the Minister to support the CCR’s submission on the 2025 immigration levels plan and copy their local MP.
You can adapt the template letter below. The template covers the key areas of concern identified by the CCR – depending on your or your organization’s area of work, you may want your letter to focus on some parts of the recommendations only. However, we encourage that your letter at least touch on all the areas of concern.
- For Minister Miller: Minister@cic.gc.ca
- Find contact information for your Member of Parliament here.
You can also send the letter with your edits using this form.
If you are planning to join our call, please send your letters before the end of September 2024.
Letter template:
The Honourable Marc Miller
Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
Re: 2025 Levels Plan
Dear Minister,
We are [I am] writing to encourage you to take into consideration the following recommendations and concerns as you prepare the 2025 immigration levels plan.
[Add a paragraph about your organization or yourself]
Our organization [ I ] support[s] the Canadian Council for Refugees’ submission on the immigration levels plan for 2025. In particular, we/I join the CCR in calling on you to:
- Increase resettled refugees (Government-Assisted and Privately Sponsored Refugees) to at least 15% of total immigration admissions, ensuring a minimum of 20,000 Government-Assisted Refugees per year.
- As a special initiative, increase the 2025 immigration targets for resettled refugees to a level that will allow the large accumulated backlog to be absorbed. As a matter of equity, Canada should ensure that refugees are not waiting longer for processing than economic immigrants.
- Ensure targets for “Protected Persons in Canada and Dependants Abroad” are high enough to achieve processing times of 12 months. Until that target is reached, Temporary Resident Permits should be issued to dependants abroad of Protected Persons.
- Review policies that result in people living in Canada long-term with temporary status, rather than capping the numbers of international students and Temporary Foreign Workers. People who will be living here long term should either arrive as permanent residents or be able to transition quicky to permanent residence.
The immigration levels reflect Canadian values and affect how we are perceived internationally. At a time when the UNHCR projects that almost 3 million refugees will need resettlement in 2025 and the numbers of forcibly displaced persons around the world are growing rapidly, Canada must increase its commitments to reflect our values of being an open and welcoming society and maintain our role as a global leader.
Sincerely yours,