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Volunteer work

Resolution number
2
Whereas
  1. All levels of government and other funding organizations recognize and actively promote the benefits of volunteering to the community at large and to the individual volunteers;
  2. Refugees look to volunteer work to gain Canadian experience and to reduce social isolation;
  3. In Ontario refugees are required to do volunteer work in order to receive social assistance ("workfare program");
  4. CIC BC Region has issued a communiqué fact sheet to inform the voluntary sector that volunteerism is a form of work and as such requires an employment authorization prior to participation in volunteer work;
  5. There are similar problems arising in other provinces across Canada;
  6. This puts an undue obligation on the voluntary sector organizations to monitor and police this requirement and inhibits refugees from active participation in the community during the initial settlement period;
Therefore be it resolved

That the CCR request that CIC not interpret volunteer work as requiring an employment authorization.

Working Group
Immigration and Settlement