CCR Resolutions Database

1. General Augusto Pinochet is presently detained in the United Kingdom pending extradition proceeding initiated by Spain, France and Switzerland;
2. General Pinochet's 1973 coup d'état against Chile's democratically elected government and the brutal dictatorship which he directed until 1990 was responsible for the deaths and/or disappearance of more than 3,000 Chileans and others, the torture and imprisonment of many thousands more and the forced exile of still more thousands to many countries including Canada;
3. Applications have been made to the government of Canada by a Canadian citizen who was detained and tortured in Chile in October 1973, as well as by a number of Canadian citizens of Chilean origin who experienced severe abuses throughout the Pinochet years, for the prosecution and extradition of General Pinochet;

1. The CCR is concerned that the drive for efficiency at the CRDD is resulting in the denial of the right of claimants to full and fair hearings;
2. The CCR is concerned about allegations of bias by members at the CRDD in their rendering of decisions in claims based on sexual orientation;
3. The CCR is concerned that the inability of lawyers to obtain conventional tape recordings of CRDD hearings is placing obstacles in the way of a claimant's right and a lawyer's ability to apply properly for leave to commence judicial review proceedings at the federal court;
4. The CCR is concerned about the misconduct by RCOs during refugee claim hearings;

1. François Crépeau and France Houle have prepared a report entitled Compétence et Indépendance, dated 6 March 1998 which makes seven key recommendations on the IRB appointments process;
2. The report was endorsed by CCR's IRB workshop in Ottawa on 28 November 1998;

1. The settlement agencies of Ontario have been living with uncertainty since the introduction of "Settlement Renewal" three years ago;
2. The Ontario Government does not appear to want the responsibility of settlement;
3. Clients' needs are best served by stable agencies which are focused on client service;
4. Many of the practices of Ontario Region are inconsistent with the practices of other CIC regions;

1. All Canadian passport holders are equal regardless of country of origin;
2. Canadian passport and travel document holders have suffered violations of their human rights by foreign governments at foreign ports of entry on the basis of their country of origin;

1. Some countries interpret the Refugee Convention in a narrow and technical manner denying effective protection to refugees;
2. Canadian visa officers sometimes show too much deference to the decisions of tribunals of other countries which have refused refugee claims which under the Canadian interpretation of the Convention would be accepted;
3. Canada's visa offices are inconsistent in their efforts to establish meaningful channels of communication with local and Canadian NGOs involved in resettlement;
4. Canada has failed to put in place meaningful review of negative decisions despite a refusal rate significantly higher than other resettlement countries;
5. Applicants for resettlement from some countries are deported from those countries despite having applications for resettlement to Canada pending, particularly in light of the frequent long processing times for such applications;

1. Canada has suspended deportations to Algeria, Democratic Republic of Congo (ex-Zaire), Afghanistan, Rwanda, & Burundi;
2. CIC does not consider this policy to cover removals to third countries, principally the United States;
3. A significant numbers of claimants arrive at Canadian border points via the United States, often as a result of Canadian interdiction practices;
4. A growing number of refused refugee claimants face an imminent danger of being removed to the United States, a country which at present has no suspension of deportations to the above-named countries;
5. The CCR has written several times to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, in the spring and summer of 1998, asking her to suspend removals of these individuals to the United States;
6. CIC has to date maintained its policy;

1. Acquisition of language is key to the educational process;
2. Adequate language funding in the school system is important to the future success of immigrant and refugee children;
3. Current Ontario government policy only allow for three years of language support from the time of arrival in Canada;

1. The Canadian Council for Refugees has promoted the involvement of NGOs in the identification of refugees overseas;
2. Citizenship and Immigration Canada`s refugee resettlement model proposes the involvement of NGOs as overseas service partners;

1. The Immigration and Refugee Board has begun to conduct refugee hearings using video-conferencing whereby IRB members in one city conduct hearings on claimants in another city;
2. The IRB has done no analysis of the impact of such video-conference hearings on the ability of claimants to have a fair hearing;
3. The use of video-conference hearings is contrary to the IRB's own stated policy of making the setting of refugee claims less intimidating and less formal;
4. The use of video-conferencing for refugee hearings is a denial of due process to refugee claimants;
5. Videoconferencing is also being used in detention reviews, similarly compromising the rights of detainees to a fair hearing;

There have been numerous formal and informal complaints about the IRB procedures and members have not been treated seriously;

1. There has been inadequate consultation with immigrants into their views on the proposed IMM 2000 card;
2. The stated purpose is to prevent fraud which suggests that landed immigrants are perpetuating fraud;
3. There will be costs to the landed immigrant over and above the discriminatory Right of Landing Fee (Head Tax);
4. There are concerns about the information that will be able to be accessed by the IMM 2000 card;
5. We believe that the use of biometrics is a violation of basic human rights;

1. Colombia continues to experience a plague of human rights violations with comparatively little world attention and near total impunity for the perpetrators;
2. The Colombian government continues to disavow responsibility for the human rights violations;
3. On 16 May 1998 Colombian paramilitaries murdered seven people and disappeared 25 others in Barrancabermeja;
4. A campaign has been organized by a coalition of Colombian NGOs to try the perpetrators of this crime in public opinion tribunals in several countries, including Canada;

1. The CCR supports the right of the Canadian government to deny refuge to people who have committed crimes against humanity and to others who pose serious national security threats, except where refoulement is in contravention of the Convention Against Torture or where there will be a risk of capital punishment;
2. It is the right and duty of the state to ensure that a just system for identifying such persons is in place;
3. The definitions in the Immigration Act relating to inadmissibility on the basis of security are over-broad;
4. Decisions regarding security inadmissibility are made without respecting the due process rights of those affected;
5. There is no time limit within which a decision may be made, leading to indefinite delays for some of those affected;

The CCR is concerned that refugee claims are being put into the abandonment - show cause stream at the IRB because claimants are being served by CIC with their eligibility and referral documents several days after the date of issuance of these documents;

1. Civic participation, including taking out citizenship, being aware of political issues and voting, is key to full participation in Canadian society;
2. Political representation seems to be lagging behind demographic change;

1. Convention refugees who have not been landed are living permanently in Canada;
2. Access to higher education is a key to Canadian life and economic independence;

1. The CCR has passed an earlier resolution that the Right of Landing Fee is discriminatory, exclusionary and racist because of the vast variance in country and individual income around the world, and is particularly burdensome for refugees;
2. Previous to 1995 refugees were not charged interest on transportation loans, admissibility loans and assistance loans;
3. The interest rate charged is above prime rate;

The nomination process and the renewal of mandates at the IRB do not have the confidence of the legal and human rights communities;

1. The Canadian Council for Refugees recognizes that racism is systemic in Canadian society. It causes pain, humiliation and has far-reaching consequences. It is embedded in society and social institutions in a way that is so pervasive that it is often invisible;
2. The Anti-Racism Policy of the Canadian Council for Refugees was adopted on November 24th, 1996 by its members who have recognized that racism prevents equality in opportunity and access to asylum, immigration opportunities, education, jobs, housing, health care and social services, and limits participation in decision-making bodies;
3. The CCR acknowledges its commitment to promote anti-racism principles and practices among its member organizations;

1. The violation of human rights in Colombia has reached unprecedented and outrageous levels;
2. The targets of this violence are key institutions of civil society (human rights groups; church, justice and peace groups; workers and trade union leaders; peasant and indigenous organizations);
3. The Colombian government has proven, once again, to be unwilling and incapable of curbing the atrocities committed by the military and especially the paramilitary formations;
4. An estimated one million Colombians are internally displaced within the country;
5. Colombia was added to the Source Country list this year;

1. The CCR has prepared a position paper which was submitted to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration's consultations on Legislative Review;
2. The Minister has not committed to consultations on forthcoming draft legislation before tabling;

1. Gay men and lesbians are recognized as a particular social group by the federal court;
2. Gay men and lesbians are protected from discrimination under section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms;
3. Most Canadian provinces currently recognize gay and lesbian relationships as legally equal to heterosexual relationships;
4. The CCR has adopted a resolution on "Guidelines and Education on Sexual Orientation for the IRB" (Res 16, Nov 94);

1. The Human Rights Code includes sexual orientation as one of the prohibited grounds for discrimination in Canada;
2. Gay men, lesbians, bisexual and transgendered individuals are as much a part of the immigrant and refugee communities as they are part of every community;
3. Settlement agencies have the responsibility to provide relevant, effective and appropriate services to these further marginalized immigrant and refugee communities;
4. The staff of settlement agencies, as part of a society that has heterosexist privilege, may have internalized a world view that further marginalizes these groups;
5. This will impact negatively on the ability of the sector to provide effective settlement services to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered immigrants and refugees;

1. Visa officers appear to be refusing an increasing number of privately sponsored refugee applicants;
2. There is no appeal from such refusals except by way of judicial review which few applicants are aware of or resourced to pursue;
3. Canada Immigration National Headquarters staff have indicated no more exact figure than that between 40% and 60% of privately sponsored refugees are refused;