Inland Protection

1. Refugee claimants are often not advised by CIC that they have the right to legal counsel at various points in the claimant process;
2. Failure to advise has caused harm to some claimants;

1. A significant number of people refused as Convention Refugees under the present Act may be returning to Canada to make second claims under C-11;
2. In the past, a high proportion of second claims has been accepted as Convention refugees by the IRB;
3. C-11 provides for a wider definition of persons needing protection, an appeal on the merits and an improved Pre-Removal Risk Assessment;
4. There is no article in C-11 dealing with persons refused under the present Act who may be returning to Canada to make a new claim under the enhanced protection provisions of this new Act;
5. Part 5 of C-11 (Article 201) stipulates that “the Regulations may provide for measures regarding the transition between the former Act and this Act, including measures regarding classes of persons who will be subject in whole or in part to this Act or the former Act....”

1. Canada has made an international commitment to combat trafficking in women and children and to extend protection to the victims of trafficking through the protocol on trafficking in persons;
2. Canada and Canadians are complicit in perpetuating trafficking in women and children as a receiving country and as customers;
3. Some women and children may be eligible for refugee status but others do not obviously qualify because the human rights abuses have occurred in Canada, not the country of origin;

1. Literature has a great impact on public awareness;
2. There has been inadequate involvement of Canadian writers, poets and people of arts and letters in refugee issues;

1. Following the September 11th tragedy, articles have appeared in mainstream media on the justification of the use of torture under exceptional and emergency conditions;
2. The use of special drugs (truth serums) is recommended by some enforcement elements against suspected terrorists and this recommendation has been reflected by media;
3. The Canadian government has reaffirmed its commitment to the Convention against Torture through C-11;
4. Refugees and other uprooted people are more vulnerable to torture and other cruel, inhumane and degrading treatments and punishments;
5. The level of public education on the scourge of torture is low and CIC and IRB officials need special training on the subject;

1. In June 2000, CCR called for the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and CIC to immediately implement the recommendations in the SIRC report concerning three complaints made by people suffering delays in landing for security reasons, and the responses to CCR by both the Solicitor General and the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration noted that “decisions on admissibility rest with CIC”, not with CSIS;
2. The recommendations of SIRC appear to have had no effective role in modifying CSIS recommendations to CIC in this case;
3. Although one of these complainants has been responded to positively, the other two cases remain unresolved at the present time;
4. Bill C-36 greatly expands the ability of Canadian authorities to deem someone a “terrorist” and an organization a “terrorist organization;”

1. The CCR called in Resolution 20, November 1993 for an end to the detention of refugee children;
2. Minor refugee claimants continue to be detained in Canada;
3. In the case of trafficked minors the government justifies such detention on the grounds that detention protects minors from their traffickers and is in the best interests of children;
4. The CCR recognizes that in certain cases there is a need for the protection of minors but unequivocally opposes the detention of minors as detention is never in the best interests of children;

1. The Province of BC has in place an appropriate model for the protection, care and guardianship of all separated children;
2. The current BC government is now considering reduction of these services and lowering the age limit for such services;

It has been recognized that the situation of separated refugee children in some provinces (notably Ontario where the largest number of such children arrive) is particularly critical due to the province’s general failure to provide appropriate child welfare services to separated refugee children, and due to the province’s breach of its international obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child in defining children to include only those under 16;

The UNHCR has recently produced a report on the situation of separated refugee children in Canada and has made a series of recommendations to the IRB and to the federal and provincial governments to address the protection needs of these children;