Inland Protection

That the Canadian Council for Refugees calls on the Government of Canada and the International Council of Voluntary Agencies to request that the Executive Committee of the UNHCR approve and open for signature an international agreement on minimum procedural standards for considering refugee claims.

That:

1. The CCR call for an independent and impartial inquiry into this treatment;
2. The CCR demand that the government revise the criteria for the review process so that the immigration officials' discretion not be unduly fettered and normal humanitarian considerations be addressed;
3. The CCR ask that the government make a clear commitment not to deport torture victims, and particularly victims of rape, unless there be clear and imperative reasons to deport these persons related to serious criminality;
4. The CCR request that the evaluation under the post-determination review be completely separated from the officials in charge of deportation and that the review officers receive proper training in Canada's international obligations;
5. The CCR call upon the government to address in an effective and open fashion all the concerns raised by the recent report by the CCR.

That:

1. The CCR write the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and request that he consider direct funding to provincial legal aid plans to ensure adequate delivery of legal services to refugee claimants;
2. The CCR write the appropriate boards or officials administering the various provincial legal aid plans and raise our concerns about the inadequate compensation for lawyers and/or the lack of necessary preparation time for hearings and judicial review;
3. The CCR express its concerns to the Quebec Parliamentary Committee prior to November 27, 1993 about the extremely low compensation, lack of sufficient preparation time for hearings and judicial review paid to Quebec lawyers when compared with Ontario or British Columbia.

That the CCR intervene in this case if leave is granted, subject to availability of funds.

That the CCR and its members now call upon the federal government to suspend removal of persons in the refugee claimant backlog and allow them and their families to be processed for landing in Canada.

That the CCR contact the new Minister of Immigration and request that:

1. Resolution #11 and #18 be implemented and a continuous program of sensitivity training be established;
2. The CCR and appropriate regional Bars be involved in the review and confirmation of continuing contracts of members;
3. The IRB develop a continuous review of Board members who are unsuitable and develop a procedure to remove or discipline such members.

That the CCR ask the governments of the U.S. and Canada to amend the memorandum of understanding to incorporate the following changes:

1. Country of Determination
   1. The country of determination should be the one chosen by the claimant.
   2. If the rule of country of choice is not accepted, and the rule of first arrival remains, the rule of first arrival should not apply in every case.
   3. Where the claimant has a family member in one state, and the country of first arrival is another, the claimant should be free to choose between the country of first arrival and the country where the family member is present.
   4. "Present" for this purpose means physically present. It would cover family members who have no status in the country of choice, but are only there for the purpose of making a refugee claim.
   5. Family member, for this purpose, means both the family class and assisted relatives.
   6. Where the claimant has a visa for one state and the country of first arrival is another, then the claimant should be able to choose between the country of first arrival and the country of visa issuance.
   7. Where the claimant has been lawfully present in the country of second arrival at any time prior to the claim, the claimant should be able to choose the country of claim.
   8. A country of transit should not be considered a country of first arrival.
2.   Safeguards
   9. The parties should agree to apply minimum standards of procedural fairness in the determination of refugee claims. The agreed minimum standards would be listed in the memorandum.
   10. The parties should agree not to deter the making or maintaining of refugee claims either by detention or by any other means.
3.   Access
   11. The parties should each agree to grant access to its refugee determination system on the merits of the claim to every person allocated under this agreement.
   12. The undertaking to examine claims should include persons who are at the border as well as persons who are in the country.
4. Confidentiality
   13. Any information exchanged under this agreement about individuals should be considered confidential and may not be passed on to any third party.
   14. Any information about an individual that is exchanged under this agreement must be accessible to that individual without regard to any exclusion that may exist in the privacy legislation of either country about information exchanged between governments.
5. Appeals
   14. The parties should establish a joint appeal tribunal to consider and decide on appeals from persons whose determination of claims have been allocated under this agreement, and who have been denied refugee recognition.
   15. The appeal tribunal should be a judicial body independent from both governments.
   16. Access to the tribunal should be subject to an admissibility requirement. The tribunal should be able to consider any appeal from a person allocated under the memorandum where there is a reasonable possibility that the determination would have been different if the claim had been in the other country.
   17. The appeal tribunal should have the power to reverse a negative determination and determine the person to be a refugee.
   18. The appeal tribunal would also have a power to decide disputes between the two state parties or between claimants and a state party on the country of allocation.
6. Third Countries
   20. Removal of a person allocated under this agreement to a third country should not be possible unless the claimant has a right to have his/her claim considered on the merits in the third country.
   21. Removal of a person allocated under this agreement to a third country should not be possible unless there is an agreement with the third country that incorporates all the provisions that are in this memorandum.
7. Status of the Memorandum
   22. The memorandum should be a legally binding agreement between the state parties enforceable by refugee claimants.
   23. The parties should undertake to provide to claimants free access to the courts of their countries for the enforcement of this agreement.
   24. All international human rights or refugee protection instruments by which a signatory state may be bound, including the Geneva Convention for the Protection of Refugees and Protocol, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Charter of the Organization of American States, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and the Convention against Torture, should be respected in the application of this memorandum by that signatory state. In case of conflict between an international human rights or refugee instrument by which a signatory state is bound and this memorandum, the international human rights or refugee instrument should predominate.
8. Quotas
   25. Except in the case of a claimant whose claim has already been determined on its merits by one of the signatory states, each party should not, in any year, invoke the memorandum of agreement to allocate determination of a claim until after that country has accepted for determination on the merits a minimum number of refugee claims. The minimum for Canada should be 30,000.
9. A Coordinating Committee
   26. A Coordinating Committee should be established, to consist of representatives of Canada, the U.S., non-governmental organizations, and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. The Committee would be responsible for supervising the administration of the memorandum. The Committee would set the minimum numbers that would have to be reached to make the memorandum operational.

That:

1. The CCR write to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to demand a full enquiry with disclosure into the mandate of the Intelligence Unit, the mandate and history of the Welfare and Refugee Fraud (W.A.R.F.) project, and the extent to which other refugee communities have been singled out;
2. The CCR demand that the Intelligence Unit cease the W.A.R.F. project and request the Minister to indicate what disciplinary action has been taken against the author of the offending report;
3. The CCR write Ontario Liberal leader, the Honourable Lyn McLeod, to demand that she issue an apology to the Somali and refugee communities for her unsubstantiated allegations, which generated considerable negative publicity;
4. The CCR complain to the Canadian Human Rights Commissioner concerning the actions of Lyn McLeod, the Immigration Intelligence Unit and the official responsible for the report, A. Lelievre;
5. The CCR make or facilitate a complaint to the Canadian and/or Provincial Press Council for the unfounded and inflammatory articles by Moira Farrow in the Vancouver Sun.
6. The CCR urge the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to institute a full investigation of the extent of racism and discrimination against visible minority people by Immigration officials in his department and develop plans for the elimination of racism in the department and that this plan include implementation of employment equity.

That the CCR:

1. Condemn the imposition of cost recovery fees for landing application from all Convention refugees and their dependants;
2. Request that the government amend the regulations to eliminate these processing fees; or in the alternative, that the government accept and process landing applications from all Convention refugees and their dependants when they are received and defer the payment of processing fees until the point of landing.

That the CCR demand that the government cease the practice of removing refugee claimants residing in Canada who entered Canada from the United States and whose applications for leave to appeal are before the Federal Court.