Private sponsorship

1. For refugees from countries such as Syria and Afghanistan, and urban refugees in many countries, there is no possibility of receiving timely or any refugee status determination by UNHCR or a host country.
2. The requirement of host country or UNHCR recognition as refugees in order to be considered as eligible for sponsorship by a Group of 5 or by a Community Sponsor is a de facto limit on the Private Sponsorship of Refugees program that discriminates against refugees who do not have timely or any access to status determination.
3. The CCR has adopted many resolutions over the years in support of non-discrimination in access to refugee resettlement and of family reunification.

1. The Canadian people through their faith and ethnocultural organizations wish to welcome and protect refugees;
2. The Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program allows Canadians to welcome and protect refugees;

1. When the Government of Canada first negotiated with NGOs to join in the resettlement of refugees through the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program, NGOs agreed to participate on the condition that the three principles of partnership, additionality and naming were guaranteed.
2. These three principles were clearly articulated and supported in the Private Sponsorship Review.
3. The Government of Canada regularly attempts to dilute these principles.

1. The Sponsorship Agreement notes as Principle #3 the ability of the Sponsorship Agreement Holder (SAH) to submit undertakings for refugees referred by the sponsor and further to this, Appendix 3 describes the roles and responsibility of this undertaking in Joint Assistance Sponsorships;
2. The ability to refer refugees for resettlement to Canada has been of longstanding importance to sponsors and to the CCR and it has been the practice of some sponsors to refer refugees for consideration under the Joint Assistance Program;
3. The new regulations require a sponsor to sign a CR3 undertaking at the front-end of a referral of a refugee for consideration as a CR5, thus negating the need for the visa post to give due consideration to the eligibility for the CR5 programs and obliging the sponsor to fulfil their undertaking for full support as a CR3;
4. Citizenship and Immigration Canada commits in the Sponsorship Agreement (page 6 - j) to make "best efforts to give notice of any change in policy, regulations or legislation that is likely to affect this Sponsorship Agreement": and this notice was not made;
5. There is no mechanism available to sponsors to make referrals under the Joint Assistance Program other than by signing the undertaking as a CR3;
6. NGOs overseas have the ability to refer refugees to the visa post for consideration as CR5s;
7. CIC has indicated that it is difficult to identify enough refugees for resettlement in order to meet its annual targets;
8. Joint Assistance Sponsorship cases may have community links in the destination community who will enhance the potential for successful establishment of otherwise difficult cases;

1. The Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada has undertaken a consultative process with relevant stakeholders with a view to developing sponsorship programs that will include partnerships and blended roles and responsibilities;
2. In some regions, as of April 1st 1998, the AAP/RAP allocations will be limited to the major urban centres in each region thus excluding the possibility of blended programs in smaller urban centres and rural communities where AAP/RAP will no longer be administered;
3. A significant portion of current and past blended programs such as the Joint Assistance Sponsorship Program, the Women at Risk Program and the Special 3/9 Program for refugees from the former Yugoslavia have been undertaken successfully in smaller urban centres and rural communities;

1. Some countries interpret the Refugee Convention in a narrow and technical manner denying effective protection to refugees;
2. Canadian visa officers sometimes show too much deference to the decisions of tribunals of other countries which have refused refugee claims which under the Canadian interpretation of the Convention would be accepted;
3. Canada's visa offices are inconsistent in their efforts to establish meaningful channels of communication with local and Canadian NGOs involved in resettlement;
4. Canada has failed to put in place meaningful review of negative decisions despite a refusal rate significantly higher than other resettlement countries;
5. Applicants for resettlement from some countries are deported from those countries despite having applications for resettlement to Canada pending, particularly in light of the frequent long processing times for such applications;

1. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has expressed; a desire for a coordinated continuum in the refugee sponsorship process;
2. CIC has issued a tender for proposal for an In-Canada Service Provider (ISP), the latest with a closing date of May 29, 2001;
3. The ISP tender should have been posted for the public after budget was secured;
4. The RSTP was extended to June 30, 2001 to facilitate transition to the ISP;
5. There is another indefinite delay in the July 1, 2001 starting date for the ISP;
6. There is a significant increase in new Sponsorship Agreement Holders (SAH) to whom RSTP/ISP would be indispensable in order for them to carry out their work effectively;
7. The training and resources developed by the RSTP have enhanced SAHs effectiveness in refugee sponsorship;
8. There will be a significant gap with the dissolution of the RSTP on June 30, 2001, which will result in the loss of infrastructure and knowledgeable staff;

delays cause anxiety and instability for refugees and their families;

1. The Government, in the context of private refugee sponsorship, claims to be committed to the principle of additionality;
2. Visa post staffing was drastically cut in the mid 90s;
3. The overseas processing time for refugees is disgracefully long. (Departmental informants tell us that currently, from the time the completed IMM8s are received at the visa post until the interview takes place is 21 months in Nairobi and 36 months in Damascus.)
4. The overseas delays make it increasingly difficult to sustain the interest of sponsors in the private sponsorship program;
5. The Government is committed to move toward annual immigration targets of 1% of the population of Canada;