Skip to main content

For a Canada as welcoming as we are

Canadian federal party leaders must uphold the rights of refugees and migrants during the 2025 federal election campaigns

 

Apr. 3, 2025

The Canadian Council for Refugees, Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, and Amnesty International Canada, together with more than 200 organizations, issued an open letter calling on federal leaders to commit to messaging and platform policies that honour refugees and newcomers.

“At a time when our sovereignty is under threat, and people in Canada are mobilizing from coast to coast to coast to stand up against the attacks on our country, refugees and immigrants are already part of this collective response.” - said Diana Gallego, President of the Canadian Council for Refugees. “We expect our political leaders to embrace and recognize them as such, and uphold our core identity as a welcoming country.”

“Canadians take pride in our commitment to welcoming refugees and migrants and upholding our obligations to promote and defend human rights,” said Aisling Bondy, President of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers. “We urge all parties to ensure that this broad consensus is reflected in their platforms and rhetoric.”

“Party leaders must reaffirm their commitment to humanity and human rights in this election,” said Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canadian Section, English speaking. “Refugees and migrants must be included in this commitment, not scapegoated for previous governments’ failures.”

The full text of the letter, including the list of signatories, is below. We encourage you to sign on to the letter:

As an organization As an individual

 

Open Letter to Party Leaders

Mark Carney, Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada
Pierre Poilievre, Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada
Yves-François Blanchet, Leader of the Bloc Québécois
Jagmeet Singh, Leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada
Elizabeth May and Jonathan Pedneault, Co-Leaders of the Green Party of Canada

Dear Party Leaders,

Elections are a perilous time for marginalized groups. At a time of significant national political and economic insecurity and amidst a cost-of-living crisis that affects us all, refugees and migrants have been frequent targets. As the federal election approaches, we are writing to seek your commitment to reject this scapegoating, and defend and strengthen one of Canada’s best traditions: protecting refugees and welcoming newcomers.

Political leaders play a critical role in upholding the rights of immigrants and refugees. This responsibility is particularly important today, when we see the rise around the world of xenophobic fear-mongering about people who move in search of a better life for their families. Canada is not immune to these narratives.

But while people may differ on policies, there still remains a broad consensus that Canada is strengthened by immigration, respect for human rights and being open to the world. Going into the federal election, we know this precious consensus is under attack, and you have both the opportunity and the obligation to remind Canadians why it is important to preserve it. We therefore ask you to embrace both language and policies that honour newcomers and their contributions to our country, and ensure they continue to feel safe and welcome in our communities.

We urge you to ensure that, throughout the election campaign, your party’s platform and messaging about refugees and immigrants champion:

  • The rule of law, including upholding the right to asylum and the fundamental protections guaranteed to all by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
  • Our shared humanity and the need to treat all newcomers with the dignity and welcome we all deserve.
  • The principle that refugees and immigrants strengthen our communities and not just our economy.
  • The belief that Canada finds opportunity through diversity.
  • The responsibility of political leaders to speak up for those marginalized in our society.

At a time when our sovereignty is under threat, when Canadians are challenged to rally behind what makes us distinct and binds us together as a nation, we ask you to defend our core values as a welcoming country. As people in Canada mobilize from coast to coast to coast to stand up against attacks on our country, refugees and immigrants are already part of this collective response and must be embraced and recognized as such.

In communities across Canada, people show up for other people. We welcome newcomers as neighbours, as colleagues, as friends. We urge you to run an election campaign that reflects this, and to commit to building an immigration system, indeed a country, as welcoming as our people are.

Canadian Council for Refugees (for its 222 members)
Amnesty International Canada
Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers

List of additional signatories

  • Canadian Council for Refugees
  • Amnesty International Canada
  • Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers
  • Accueil-Parrainage Outaouais
  • Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights
  • Action Committee against Internal and International Human Trafficking (CATHII)
  • Action Réfugiés Montréal
  • Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies of BC (AMSSA)
  • Afghan Women's Organization Refugee and Immigrant Services
  • AGIR: Action Lesbienne, Gai, Bisexuelle, Trans et Queer (LGBTQ) avec les immigrants et réfugiés
  • AidWatch Canada
  • Albanian Canadian Association Kosova
  • Alberta Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies
  • Alongside Hope
  • Aman Lara
  • Amnistie internationale Canada francophone
  • Angela Rose and Oak House
  • Anglican United Refugee Alliance (AURA)
  • Association des lesbiennes et des gais sur Internet (ALGI)
  • Association for the Rights of Household and Farm Workers (DTMF)
  • Association québécoise des avocats et avocates en droit de l'immigration (AQAADI)
  • Atlantic Region Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies (ARAISA)
  • Au bas de l'échelle (ABE)
  • Bahá'í Community of Canada
  • Bangladeshi-Canadian Community Services (BCS)
  • Bienvenue à Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
  • Black Africanness RCIC
  • Bridges Not Borders -- Créons des Ponts
  • Bridging Divides Research Program (Toronto Metropolitan University)
  • CALACS de L'ouest-de-l'île
  • Campagne québécoise pour la régularisation et la justice migrante
  • Campaign 2000: End Child and Family Poverty
  • Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration Program (Toronto Metropolitan University)
  • Canada-US Border Rights Clinic
  • Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE)
  • Canadian Association of University Teachers
  • Canadian Centre for Language and Cultural Studies, Inc (CCLCS)
  • Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture (CCVT)
  • Canadian Drug Policy Coalition
  • Canadian Friends Service Committee
  • Canadian Labour Congress
  • Canadian Refugee Health Network
  • Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW)
  • Canadian Union of Postal Workers Local 566 - London
  • Canadian Union of Public Employees
  • Canadian Union of Public Employees Manitoba (CUPE Manitoba)
  • Capital Rainbow Refuge
  • Carrefour d'Action Interculturelle (CAI)
  • Carrefour d'aide aux Nouveaux arrivants (CANA)
  • Carrefour de ressources en interculturel (CRIC)
  • Carrefour d'éducation à la solidarité internationale - Québec (CÉSIQ)
  • Carrefour le Moutier
  • Carty House
  • CÉDA
  • Centre communautaire (CEFEDI)
  • Centre Communautaires des femmes sud asiatiques (CCFSA)
  • Centre d’Orientation et de Formation pour Favoriser les Relations Ethniques Traditionnelles (Le COFFRET)
  • Centre de Lecture, d'écriture et de Formations Mitis-Neigette (CLEF Mitis-Neigette)
  • Centre des femmes de Verdun
  • Centre d'orientation paralegale et sociale pour immigrants (COPSI)
  • Centre for Refugee Children
  • Centre for Refugee Studies (York University)
  • Centre for Spanish Speaking People (CSSP)
  • Centre social d'aide aux immigrants (CSAI)
  • Christian Reformed Centre for Public Dialogue
  • Christie Refugee Welcome Centre
  • Citizens for Public Justice
  • Climate Action Network - Réseau action climat Canada
  • Comité logement Bas-Saint-Laurent
  • Community Family Services of Ontario
  • Community Legal Services of Ottawa
  • COMPASS Refugee Centre
  • Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN)
  • Congregation of Notre-Dame of Montreal
  • Congress of Democratic Trade Unions
  • Conseil central du Bas-Saint-Laurent (CCBSL–CSN)
  • Cooper Institute
  • COSTI Immigrant Services
  • CRESO Centre-conseil en emploi
  • CUIAS Immigrant Services
  • Diocese of Hamilton
  • Doctors of the World Canada
  • Entre Parents de Montréal-Nord
  • Exchange Language Services Inc.
  • Jewish Family Services of Ottawa
  • FCJ Refugee Centre
  • Fédération nationale des enseignantes et des enseignants du Québec (FNEEQ-CSN)
  • Foyer du Monde
  • Francophonie Albertaine Plurielle (FRAP)
  • FrancoQueer
  • Greenpeace Canada
  • Halifax Refugee Clinic
  • HANA Bellechasse (Résidence d’accueil Bellechasse Sud)
  • Healthy Muslim Families
  • Horizon Ottawa
  • Illusion Emploi de l'Estrie
  • Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba
  • Immigrant and Refugee Support Center
  • Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISSofBC)
  • Immigrant Workers Centre (IWC)
  • Immigrants Working Centre (IWC)
  • Immigration Clinic, Detroit Mercy Law
  • Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC)
  • INICI (Immigrate, Integrate, Innovate)
  • Inter Pares
  • International Association for Refugees Canada (IAFR Canada)
  • International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group
  • Iraqi Federation of Refugees
  • Islamic Relief Canada
  • IslamicFamily
  • Jesuit Refugee Service Canada
  • Jumpstart Refugee Talent
  • Kinbrace Community Society
  • Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Centre
  • Le Pont - A.P.P.I.
  • Le Tremplin, Centre pour personnes immigrantes et leurs familles
  • Legal Assistance of Windsor
  • Lehal Law Corporation (Delta)
  • Ligue des droits et libertés
  • Lush Cosmetics
  • Madhu Verma Migrant Justice Centre
  • Maison Alice Desmarais
  • Manitoba Association of Newcomer Serving Organizations
  • Mary Ward Centre Canada
  • Matthew House Refugee Services Toronto
  • Matthew House Refugee Welcome Centre of Windsor
  • Mennonite Central Committee Canada
  • Mennonite Central Committee Ontario
  • Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto (MCC Toronto)
  • Micah House Refugee Reception Services Inc.
  • Migrant Justice Clinic
  • Migrant Rights Network
  • Migrant Workers Centre BC
  • Migrante Alberta
  • Migrante Canada
  • Montreal City Mission Just Solutions Legal Clinic
  • Montréal LGBTQ+ Community Centre
  • MOSAIC - Multi-lingual Orientation Service Association for Immigrant Communities
  • Mothers Matter Canada
  • Movement for Transfeminism (MtF)
  • Multi-Agency Partnership of BC (MAP)
  • National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM)
  • National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE)
  • Neighbourhood Legal Services
  • New Canadians Centre Peterborough
  • New Hope Community Services Society
  • New Map Immigration Services Inc.
  • Newcomer Center of Peel (NCP)
  • Newcomer Legal Clinic (Thunder Bay, Ontario)
  • North West College
  • Oasis Centre des femmes
  • OCASI-Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants
  • Oeuvres Marie-Anne-Lavallée
  • Office for Systemic Justice, Federation of Sisters of St. Joseph of Canada
  • Ontario Campaign 2000: End Child and Family Poverty
  • Ontario Council for International Cooperation
  • Ottawa Food Bank
  • Oxfam Canada
  • Oxfam-Québec
  • Presbyterian World Service & Development
  • Progress Toronto
  • Promotion of Sustainable Development in Donga Mantung Association
  • Quaker Committee for Refugees of Toronto Monthly Meeting, the Religious Society of Friends
  • Rainbow Railroad
  • Rainbow Refugee Society
  • RCEC Diocese of London Refugee Ministries Windsor
  • Refugee 613
  • Refugee Family Reunification
  • Refugee Health YYC
  • Regional Connections Immigrant Services
  • Regroupement des Organismes du Montréal Ethnique pour le logement (ROMEL)
  • Regroupement des organismes pour l'hébergement de personnes migrantes
  • Réseau d'aide aux travailleuses et travailleurs migrants agricoles du Québec (RATTMAQ)
  • Rights For All LGBTIQ+ Refugees In Canada Now Society (RARICAnow! Society)
  • Rohingya Association of Canada
  • Roman Catholic Diocese of Calgary
  • Romero House
  • Samaritan House Ottawa
  • Saskatchewan Association of Immigrant Settlement and Integration Agencies (SAISIA)
  • Saskatoon Open Door Society Inc.
  • Silent Voice Canada
  • SINGA Québec : innovation social et enrichissement culturel avec les réfugiés
  • Skills For Change
  • Social Planning Toronto
  • Sojourn House
  • Solidarité ethnique régionale de la Yamaska
  • Somali HelpAge Association
  • Somerset West Community Health Centre
  • South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario (SALCO)
  • South Asian Women's Collective (SAWC)
  • South Asian Women's Rights Organization
  • Table de concertation des organismes au service des personnes réfugiées et immigrantes
  • Table des groupes de femmes de Montréal
  • The Presbyterian Church in Canada
  • The Refugee Centre
  • The United Church of Canada
  • The Windsor Women Working With Immigrant Women
  • UFCW National
  • Umbrella Multicultural Health Co-op
  • Vancity
  • Vancouver Association for Survivors of Torture (VAST)
  • VAST
  • Waterloo Region Community Legal Services (WRCLS)
  • Welcome Collective
  • West Kootenay Friends of Refugees
  • Working Skills Centre
  • World Renew
  • World Skills Employment Centre
  • YMCA NCR
  • YWCA Toronto