CCR Resolutions Database

1. The overseas pre-departure orientation is demonstrated to have a direct benefit to the settlement of newcomers;
2. Only a limited number of refugees destined to Canada receive a pre-departure orientation funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada or le Ministère de Relations avec les Citoyens et de l'Immigration;

1. The CCR membership has acknowledged the negative impact of homophobia and heterosexism within our sector and membership;
2. Current settlement standards do not explicitly reflect the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) refugees and immigrants;
3. There is an apparent lack of commitment to training and education on these issues;
4. There are serious concerns about the refusal rates of refugee claims based on sexual orientation;

1. The war in Sudan continues to be fuelled by oil revenues from the expanding operation in which Talisman Energy is a major partner;
2. The war continues to be characterized by deliberate targeting of civilian populations in the South, forcible displacements and disruptions to and targeting of humanitarian aid operations and workers;

1. There are serious problems with unaccompanied migrant and refugee claimant children entering Canada (e.g. (1) difference between Provinces in assessment, treatment and support; (2) inconsistency with institutions concerned with protection and representation of unaccompanied migrant and refugee claimant children (IRB, detention));
2. Considerable research has been done by UNHCR, Save the Children and other organizations concerned with the rights of children;
3. Canada does not have clear and consistent guidelines and legislation to deal fairly with migrant and refugee claimant children;

1. Convention refugees have the right to apply for permanent residence;
2. The processing of the application for permanent residence can take a considerable amount of time, during which Convention refugees are not accorded rights to which they are entitled under the 1951 Convention;
3. The lack of these rights causes hardship to Convention refugees and their families;

1. The CCR has expressed commitment to inclusive practices and in particular refugee participation;
2. Refugee women face systemic and societal barriers in accessing opportunities for participation in leadership capacities;
3. Participants of the Refugee Women's meeting expressed a desire and commitment to continued participation and identified the need for space to share experiences, network, address specific issues and develop affirmative actions for follow up;

1. There are massive human rights abuses against Sierra Leonean refugees in Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and the Gambia;
2. The CCR appreciates the special Sierra Leone program introduced by the federal government in 2000-2001;

1. Numerous members of CCR and other refugee advocates have criticized the lack of an effective procedure to deal with complaints about Convention Refugee Determination Division members' and Refugee Claims Officers' behaviour and competence;
2. The complaint procedures and protocols implemented, to date, by the Immigration and Refugee Board have failed to adequately address the concerns of refugees and their advocates;

1. A National Settlement Service Standards (NSSS) Framework was developed by the CCR through a National Consultation process that involved a broad range of individuals and agencies providing settlement services to immigrants, refugees and refugee claimants;
2. The CCR adopted in principle the NSSS framework as presented by the Working Group on Settlement in June 2000 (Res. 1, Jun. 00);
3. The National Settlement Service Standards Steering Committee was asked to develop a plan to implement this framework across Canada;

1. The conflict which started as a border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea in March 1998 has escalated to total war combined with widespread famine;
2. The Ethiopian government has stripped persons of ethnic Eritrean descent of their Ethiopian citizenship;
3. Currently both acknowledged Eritrean citizens and those of possible Eritrean descent are seen as defacto Eritrean citizens, and are in danger of removal from Canada;

1. All levels of government and other funding organizations recognize and actively promote the benefits of volunteering to the community at large and to the individual volunteers;
2. Refugees look to volunteer work to gain Canadian experience and to reduce social isolation;
3. In Ontario refugees are required to do volunteer work in order to receive social assistance ("workfare program");
4. CIC BC Region has issued a communiqué fact sheet to inform the voluntary sector that volunteerism is a form of work and as such requires an employment authorization prior to participation in volunteer work;
5. There are similar problems arising in other provinces across Canada;
6. This puts an undue obligation on the voluntary sector organizations to monitor and police this requirement and inhibits refugees from active participation in the community during the initial settlement period;

1. A draft response to Bill C-31 has been discussed by the Working Groups;
2. The recommendations contained in that draft response have been debated in the Working Groups;

1. Refugee participation is of major concern to the CCR and there are resolutions to that effect;
2. Refugees and refugee communities are directly affected by Canadian immigration policies, and already have been involved in their own advocacy;
3. There is a need for strengthening cooperation and collaboration between the CCR on the one hand and refugee communities on the other;

1. There is a massive exodus of persons of Eritrean ethnicity to neighbouring countries, particularly Sudan, as well as massive internal displacement, due to the escalating war between Ethiopia and Eritrea;
2. Due to the war, the UNHCR is unable to protect Eritreans;

1. Refugees and immigrants who apply for permanent residence are required to undergo security screening by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and the security review unit of the Department of Citizenship & Immigration (SRU);
2. Refugees and immigrants often face undue delays in acquiring permanent residence status as a result of prolonged security screenings by CSIS and SRU;
3. The security screening process remains unfair and intimidating to many refugees and immigrants, particularly since many cannot obtain information about the status of their applications or reasons for long delays;
4. The CCR adopted Resolution 13 of May 1998 and Resolution 13 of November 1998 on landing delays for security reasons and assessments;
5. Refugees and immigrants who question the integrity, fairness, duration, and impact of the security screening process can file a complaint with the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC);
6. SIRC is mandated to investigate such complaints and make recommendations thereon;
7. Such complaints have been filed with SIRC and in April 2000, SIRC issued reports on its findings with recommendations;
8. The SIRC reports unequivocally exonerated the complainants and made a number of recommendations;
9. These recommendations included a recommendation that complainants’ applications for permanent residence be processed for landing;

1. A resolution was passed in May 1999 relating to the development of National Settlement Standards through a process presented by a Settlement Standards Steering Committee;
2. This process has led to the development of the National Settlement Service Standards Framework document presented in Vancouver (spring 2000);

1. The UN is organizing in South Africa a World Conference on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia & Related Intolerance to be held in July 2001;
2. Refugees and asylum seekers experience specific forms of xenophobia and intolerance not experienced by other migrants;
3. The World Conference has the long term potential to not only improve the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers in Canada but to improve their treatment world-wide;
4. The CCR has an anti-racism policy;

1. Many victims of the widespread violence of May 1998 in Indonesia remain in safe-houses under the care and protection of indigenous humanitarian organizations;
2. Ethno-racially and religiously motivated violence continues in many regions and provinces throughout Indonesia;
3. The lack of the rule of law prevails in Indonesia as evidenced by the over 200,000 East Timorese nationals who remain trapped in West Timor and elsewhere in Indonesia, held hostage and victimized by the Indonesian army and their surrogate militias;
4. The Indonesian military continue to hold many of the more senior and strategic portfolios in the Cabinet of the recently elected government;
5. The Source Country Class was designed to facilitate effective protection for internally displaced persons;
6. During the crisis of May 1998 and persistently through the violence which has continued to the present time Canada Immigration has refused to place Indonesia on the Source Country list due to the officially expressed fear of thereby compromising the considerable bilateral economic ties between Indonesia and Canada;

1. There has been a serious increase in generalized violence and civil unrest in Angola and the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville);
2. A number of individuals are in imminent danger of removal to these countries;
3. Several representations have already been made to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to suspend removals to Angola and the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville);
4. The Advisory Committee on Country Conditions for Removal has not met since February 1997;

1. CIC has developed and begun the implementation of a new National Funding Formula for the allocation of settlement funding to each province;
2. The consequences of the implementation has brought to light marked reductions in settlement funds for some provinces most notably Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan;
3. The numbers of newcomers fluctuates each year, and the provision of service lasts for many years;
4. These reductions will seriously damage the structural integrity and delivery capability of agencies in affected provinces, putting many below threshold operating levels;

1. The CCR supports openness, transparency, democracy and accountability in refugee affairs;
2. The public process relating to the setting of resettlement levels has virtually disappeared;

1. Evidence indicates that some survivors of torture are being re-traumatized by the experience of the refugee hearing process;
2. The determination of refugee status for survivors of torture presents evidentiary complexities for the IRB;
3. The CCR has endorsed a detailed written proposal for guidelines for the determination of torture survivors before the IRB;

1. There is a national crisis of homelessness and lack of affordable housing;
2. Immigrants, refugees and visible minorities face significant racism in the private housing market;
3. In some large cities in Canada, newcomers make up a large portion of the shelter population;
4. We deplore the "passing of the buck" by which different levels of government deny that newcomers' housing issues are their responsibility;
5. Across the country income assistance rates are unrealistic in light of housing costs;
6. There are many problems in accessing income support services across the country;
7. We applaud the new southern Ontario project of issuing ID to assist claimants at port of entries in accessing services;

there are inconsistencies from province to province about the timing and method, by CIC, of processing refugee claimants which frequently leave claimants unable to access social services, medical care, housing and schooling for children;

1. Bill S-8, recently introduced as a private member's bill in the Senate, would amend the Immigration Act to give powers to interdict ships and their passengers;
2. The measures proposed in the bill would seriously undermine refugee protection and put Canada at risk of violating its international human rights obligations;
3. The bill promotes prejudicial treatment of refugees;