Inland Protection

That the CCR request the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to commit adequate resources and priority to monitoring the gender impacts of IRPA and to change policies where negative differential impacts on women are identified.

That the CCR call upon CIC:

1. To accept at the PRRA level, claims based on gender, including severed claims, as "new evidence" to be considered.
2. To designate specific gender experts as PRRA officers in each region.
3. To ensure that all PRRA officers receive ongoing gender based training including relevant case examples.

That the CCR:

1. Request the development of a joint task group made up of CCR, CIC, Health Canada and relevant Québec ministries to investigate the outcome of the report's recommendations with an intent to re-evaluate the current status of mental health programming for refugees and immigrants and develop a national implementation strategy;
2. Request that CIC, Health Canada and their Québec counterparts provide the resources to facilitate the consultation processes;
3. Put in place measures to ensure broad representation of all stakeholders i.e. mental health practitioners, refugees and settlement providers;
4. Request that as an interim measure, CIC ensure that resources are provided to the Interim Federal Health Program to provide for both short and long-term mental health services and that it be applied consistently across Canada.

That the CCR:

1. Support the proposition that NGOs have a role to play in the provision of counselling for unsuccessful refugee claimants as to the consequence of voluntarily returning to their countries.
2. Form a committee to study the issue of voluntary return of refugees and to report on possible models of providing counselling and assistance to unsuccessful refugee claimants.
3. The above committee in preparing its report consult with potential partners in the provision of such counselling such as, but not limited to, UNHCR, IOM, Amnesty International, and CIC.

That the CCR:

1. Reiterate its support to the Comité d'action des sans statut (Res. 15, December 2001);
2. Call on CIC to immediately clarify the process for this special procedure for Algerians, especially for those people outside Quebec;
3. Call on CIC after consultations with NGO and community groups to develop written procedures, which would apply every time the suspension of deportations to a particular country is lifted.

That the CCR endorse this Best Practices document by the Focal Point on Separated Children in the Americas, and encourage member organizations to do the same.

That the CCR urge the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration that written guidelines on the best interests of the child to be used by CIC officers within Canada and abroad, be developed in consultation with the CCR and other organizations promoting the rights of children.

That the CCR:

1. Solicit statements and submissions from those affected by this policy both through member agencies and the community at large;
2. Advocate for the creation of an equitable power in a decision-maker independent of CIC to make a determination as to the propriety of removal from Canada of refugees and permanent residents.

That the CCR ask the Canadian Government to exempt all asylum seekers from such countries from being sent back to the United States under the Safe Third Country Agreement.

That the CCR write to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration requesting the implementation of a national policy that is consistent with the Best Practices statement, and that the policy be developed in consultation with the CCR, NGOs and the UNHCR.