Immigration and Settlement

1. The immigrant and refugee sector has made little attempt to create meaningful linkages with Canada's First Nation communities.
2. Non-aboriginal Canadians (including immigrants and refugees) have been beneficiaries of Canada's policies that have discriminated against Aboriginal communities;

1. National Settlement Sector occupational competencies do not exist.
2. No certification/accreditation body presently regulates settlement as a profession.
3. Professionals in this sector provide services at par with other social service providers.
4. There is an increasing burden on Settlement Practitioners to provide varied and in-depth services meeting provincial/federal reporting, evaluation and accountability requirements.  
5. CIC has promoted the notion of comparable services across provinces and regions.

The iCAMS system has been implemented across the country, and has proven to be a major burden to agencies, and cannot produce accurate and useful reports for either agencies or CIC.

1. CIC has recently recognized and supported the need for additional language training for skilled immigrants, as demonstrated by the Enhanced Language Training (ELT) funding.
2. CIC has greatly increased the arrivals of high-needs, low Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB)scoring government-assisted refugees (GARs).
3. Research and experience clearly demonstrate that very low CLB literacy scoring newcomers require substantial additional instruction and support.

1. The government of Canada has repeatedly expressed concern for the under- employment of skilled newcomers.
2. Many highly trained newcomers must work at survival jobs in order to support their families.
3. People who work more than 20 hours a week are excluded from Employment Assistance programs funded by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC).

1. 75% of GARs currently arriving in Canada have special needs.
2. Settlement agencies and sponsors are not equipped to respond to these special needs.
3. These special needs include urgent medical needs.

1. Communities are seeing many incidents where sponsored refugees are leaving newborn children behind.
2. Some children are dying as a result of these decisions.
3. These decisions are being made based on information circulating in-country that reporting these newborns will result in their travel arrangements being cancelled.
4. Information on how to report and procedures for reporting do not always reflect the context of refugee applicants regarding access.

1. CCR passed Resolution 19,Dec. 2000 on combating homophobia and heterosexism and Resolution 4, May1998 on the need to develop internal policies that affirm the rights of individuals.
2. CCR should lead by example in combating homophobia and heterosexism in the CCR membership and the immigrant and refugee serving communities.

1. Many refugees are people of colour who encounter systemic, institutional and financial barriers to full participation in CCR.
2. Refugees and people of colour have played and continue to play a vital role in the CCR.
3. The People of Colour Caucus provides a space where leadership by refugees and people of colour can be nurtured.

1. The staff of CIC and CBSA do not appear to reflect the diversity of Canada’s population;
2. The staff of CIC and CBSA regularly work with a very diverse population of clients.