Resolution number
15
Whereas
- The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration has introduced the Undocumented Convention Refugee in Canada Class (UCRCC) as a proposed solution to the problems created by 46.04(8) of the Immigration Act;
- The UCRCC is only effective until January 1999;
- The House Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration rejected the five year waiting period before applying for landed immigrant status;
- The five year wait under UCRCC will cause:
(1)undue hardship for refugees (such as extended or permanent family separation);
(2)significant barriers to successful integration of refugees in relation to education, employment, health care and travel outside Canada; - All people subject to the UCRCC have already been recognized as Convention refugees;
- 80% of the people affected by the UCRCC regulations are women and children who do not fit the profile of war criminals or security risk that the Minister referred to in justifying the five year waiting period;
- Only two countries, Somalia and Afghanistan, are presently included in the UCRCC, and there has been no solution proposed for persons from other countries in similar situations;
Therefore be it resolved
That the CCR urge the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to:
- Abolish the five-year waiting period provided for under the UCRCC and land all Convention refugees using the identification documentation which they already have and/or accepting statutory declarations as proof of identification;
- Allocate resources to the granting of landed status within six months to those persons who have already completed the UCRCC waiting period;
- Notify all eligible members of the UCRCC of their eligibility so that they know that they may apply for landing;
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the CCR write to the Québec Ministre des Relations avec les citoyens et de l'Immigration, requesting his support for our position on this issue.
Working Group
Inland Protection