CCR Resolutions Database

That the CCR request the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to direct visa officers to accept and process expeditiously the referrals of Women at Risk cases from the UNHCR and NGOs without an interview for the details of the persecution experience.

That the CCR:

1. Request the Canadian government to make representations to the UNHCR, the CPA steering committee and the CPA fellow signatories to:
   1. establish a mechanism to identify, review and correct cases which have been egregiously denied refugee status, with the use of the UNHCR's mandate authority;
   2. respect the safety and dignity of asylum seekers, by immediately recanting the policy of deprivation measures which has led to reductions in food rations and cuts in educational and medical services;
   3. abstain from the use of force and violence in the repatriation programme;
   4. quickly resettle recognized refugees, many of whom have languished for years in transit camps.
2. Make direct representations to the UNHCR to this effect.

That:

1. The CCR is interested in participating in the "interim review" of rejected refugee claimants announced by the Minister;
2. CCR involvement must include full participation in designing the review process and establishing its criteria and would include representation at all working sessions of the Departmental planning body;
3. All rejected claims, irrespective of date of rejection, be included in the review;
4. If the CCR is adequately represented on a management committee to oversee administration of the review, the CCR recommend to its members that they circulate information on the review and that the CCR also encourage its members to assist eligible claimants in making appropriate submissions to the review process, on a non-exclusive basis.

That:

1. The CCR as a priority undertake a programme of public education to dispel refugee myths. One major undertaking should be the incorporation into press releases of the contribution of newcomers to this society;
2. The CCR incorporate a statement into all its external and internal documents, such as its mission statement and its By-Laws, that part of the role of the Council is to actively promote an anti-racist perspective/initiative in all its work;
3. The CCR set up an internal core group that includes representation from the diverse refugee and immigrant communities to devise strategies to combat racism;
4. As part of its mandate, the core group encourage linkages between immigrant and refugee groups.

That the CCR:

1. Endorse the May 1994 report on detention as its official paper on detention;
2. Condemn the systematic violation of article 9 of the Canadian Charter and our international obligations;
3. Urge the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to establish clear rules consistent with the Charter to delineate grounds for detention;
4. Urgently demand the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to establish a mechanism for sanctions and accountability for immigration officials who abuse the rights of non-citizens and to study the possibility of an independent ombudsman for complaints about immigration practices;
5. Demand that a code of ethics be established for immigration officials which stresses the need for normal courtesy and respect for physical conditions for visitors, as well as emphasizing a non-discriminatory attitude towards those coming to this country;
6. Contact provincial tourism ministers to make them aware of the treatment that visitors to this country are subjected to at the current time;
7. Invite the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the United Nations Human Rights Commission to visit Canada on a fact-finding visit to investigate the conformity of Canadian practices with international standards of behaviour;
8. Advocate to the Minister that, while awaiting legislative amendments:
   1. Interpreters must be more quickly available at points of entry. No one should be detained simply because an interpreter cannot be found in time;
   2. A citizens advocates mechanism should be established in order to guard against abuse by self-contained administrative tribunals;
   3. The Department should facilitate access to review sessions to advocates willing to accompany detainees;
   4. A mechanism should be established for publishing and making available to counsel noteworthy decisions rendered by adjudicators;
   5. Maximum periods of detention should be established (no more than 4 months), except in cases where there is serious reason to believe the person poses a security risk or risk to the public. At the very least, the 4 month mark should trigger a special review with counsel, if necessary, funded by the federal government to actively seek solutions other than detention. A community advocate should also be present, if desired by the detainee;
   6. Detainees awaiting removal should be released, if the removal cannot be effected in the immediate future, as long as the person is not a security risk;
   7. Regulations establishing standards for detention centre conditions, rights and treatment of detainees and conditions for transfers to jail should be adopted. These regulations should be drawn up in consultation with the NGO sector;
   8. Detainees exhibiting signs of psychological stress should be given access to appropriate medical personnel immediately. Known or suspected survivors of torture should be referred to specialists. Reports of medical personnel should be taken into consideration in all decisions concerning the person's continued detention;
   9. Suicide attempts must be treated with the seriousness such an act merits. Relevant legislation should be reviewed and medical experts consulted to ensure that appropriate procedures are established and followed;
   10. Adequate medical care should be made available to all detainees in a timely manner. Special attention should be given to the medical needs of pregnant women;
   11. NGO's should be invited to participate in the training of personnel at detention centres, so as to increase sensitivity to the rights and needs of detainees;
   12. An independent review mechanism should be set up to oversee conditions of detention;
   13. In cases of detention in jails, detainees who have not been accused of a criminal offence should be separated from the general prison community. Special efforts should be made to expedite the case and to ensure that the detainee has access to counselling and community advocates;
   14. Minimum standards for outdoor exercise facilities should be established. There should be more than a small concrete courtyard;
   15. Airport detention facilities should be improved. Comfortable chairs should be provided. The specific needs of children should also be considered with special reference to the UN Convention on the Rights of Child. Food and drink should be made easily available;
   16. All detainees should be provided with an information sheet that clearly outlines their rights and obligations. The information sheet should be translated into as many languages as possible;
   17. All detainees should be provided with a list of organizations that might provide assistance;
   18. There should be opportunity for NGO representatives to meet with regional immigration officials at regular intervals;
   19. Staff cuts should not be made at the expense of the client. Staff needs should be regularly evaluated and reassignments immediately made if necessary;
   20. In seeking to increase the capacity of NGOs to anticipate and respond to the needs of incoming refugee claimants, the department should keep records of gender, age, and country of origin. These statistics would also permit the department to more effectively anticipate changes that might be required at detention facilities;
   21. Access to chaplaincy on a faith-appropriate basis should be provided.

That the CCR:

1. Call upon all funders and particularly the federal government to recognize the value of research activities carried out by community-based immigrant and refugee organizations;
2. Call upon all funders and particularly the federal government to provide financial resources for community-based organizations to continue to improve and expand research activities on immigrant/refugee service delivery;
3. Continue to provide at the semiannual consultation a forum for community-based organizations to present the results of and exchange information on the various research activities across the different regions.

That the CCR:

1. Continue to organize sessions on international refugee and development issues;
2. Investigate initiating dialogue with CIDA, Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Finance to discuss the overlapping responsibilities/ funding criteria relating to refugee relief and development assistance.

That the CCR:

1. Urge the government of Canada to:
   1. support our request for an impartial international or regional inquiry into the events which led to the genocide of the Rwandan people;
   2. support appropriate measures to ensure that following such an inquiry those responsible for the massacres are judged and punished, whether in Rwanda, here or in another country;
   3. support appropriate measures to establish a democratic government of national unity and to ensure respect for human rights, in the spirit of the Arusha Accord;
   4. continue its generous humanitarian aid to the Rwandan people;
   5. study and discuss the problem of how the local personnel employed by Canadian organizations or government were abandonned when Canadian expatriates were evacuated, in order to ensure that such a situation does not happen again;
   6. reject the imposition of conditions on the participation of Canadian forces in the UN troops, according to which 5,500 troops are to be brought together in Rwanda;
   7. implement special measures with simple and clear criteria to offer protection in Canada for those with family or other links with Canadians of Rwandan origin and to refuse visas and landing to previously identified criminals;
   8. cease all non-justified removals of Rwandans in Canada;
2. Request its members to educate the Canadian public on the origins as well as the solutions to the current crisis in Rwanda;
3. Request the Canadian government to finalize an urgent special procedure to collect unaccompanied orphaned minors whose sole remaining relatives are in Canada; i.e. Canadians of Rwandan origin whatever their eligibility for existing sponsorship programmes (humanitarian cases).

That the CCR:

1. Petition the Government of Canada to request the Government of Thailand:
   1. to honour their responsibilities to provide safe asylum to Burmese nationals; and
   2. to issue exit visas to Burmese nationals upon completion of Canadian immigration processing;
2. Petition the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to increase the number of government sponsorships to at least double the current seventy-five positions and in addition appropriate one-third of the contingency allocation in recognition of the urgency of the situation;
3. Urge the Government of Canada to use all means at its disposal to pressure the Burmese (Myanmar) SLORC to restore human rights and to honour its own democratic process and the outcome of the election of 1989;
4. Request the Government of Canada to provide human resource development opportunities to Burmese refugees in neighbouring countries as they await restoration of human rights and the democratic process in Burma.

That the CCR communicate to the appropriate governmental and social service bodies at every possible opportunity that:

1. Non-governmental settlement services are an integral part of the social service delivery system and that the expertise of these services must be fully recognized;
2. Non-governmental settlement services must have equal access to funding for social services; 3. Ongoing funding must be made available to ensure continuity of services and to maintain quality of services through appropriate resources for planning, delivery and evaluation.

That the CCR:

1. Endorse the proposed code of procedures for torture survivors;
2. Assist the National Network in encouraging the IRB and the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to study the code and to consult interested parties and to thereby formally create a legally enforceable code of procedures for the treatment of torture survivors.

That the CCR request that:

1. The above mentioned Federal ministries continue to implement the recommendations of the report "After the Door Has Been Opened";
2. These Ministries pay particular attention to and review the mental health effects of their policies;
3. These Ministries urge the Provincial Ministries of Health to recognise cross cultural mental health counselling by including costs for these services under the Provincial Health Plans.

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.

That the CCR:

1. Bring to the attention of funders, particularly the federal government and specifically the funders participating in the Culturally Appropriate Social Services Conference in Montreal, June 5 - 7, the need to allocate sufficient funds for the development process of forging equitable collaborative efforts between mainstream and community-based organizations including, but not limited to, the criteria for equitable power-sharing;
2. Call upon the mainstream organizations to join in the effort of making the development process a reality for forging meaningful, equitable collaborative efforts.

That the CCR Executive communicate with the Minister and Department of Citizenship and Immigration recommending that the refugee programmes, policy and budget, including Adjustment Assistance Programme and the Transportation Loan be separated from the immigration programmes, policy and budget. This process should be undertaken in conjunction with stakeholders, such as CCR, Sponsorship Agreement holders, community groups, refugees and settlement agencies. The discussions should include recommendations on the placement of Family Class, immigration levels, levels of special needs cases and programming needs.

1. That the CCR call upon the government of Canada, in international fora:
2. To address the inadequacy of international mechanisms to respond adequately to the crime of genocide;
3. To ask for a review of the Genocide Convention;
4. To provide new funding to the United Nations Human Rights Centre for international human rights mechanisms because these are seriously underfunded.

That the CCR urge: 

1. That a moratorium be placed on the implementation and piloting of the SMIS until such time as a mutually acceptable agreement is reached by the National Working Group;
2. That the National Working Group be comprised of:
   1. one provincial representative nominated by each of AMSSA, AAISA, SAISA, MICA, OCASI, and one for the Atlantic Region;
   2. an Information Technology Expert, nominated by the CCR;
   3. a legal expert on privacy, nominated by the CCR;
   4. an expert on programme evaluation, nominated by the CCR;
   5. a refugee client of a CCR member agency;
   6. an immigrant client of a CCR member agency;
   7. government staff including Settlement and Integration Policy, Research and Settlement Operations;
3. That the National Working Group be co-chaired by an NGO and a government representative;
4. That the agreements reached by the National Working Group be implemented in a timely fashion;
5. That the NGO representatives keep the refugee and immigrant services organizations fully informed of the progress and seek their input including but not limited to the following issues:
   1. client confidentiality
   2. who has access to the reports produced
   3. a review of the mandatory information required
   4. what clients and programmes can be exempt from the SMIS reports
   5. the use and the meaningfulness of the performance indicators
   6. what kind of reports will be generated and how will they be used
   7. the security of the data
   8. what process will be used to ensure that planning will be collaborative;
6. That sufficient funding be made available to the NGO representatives for:
   1. travel
   2. consultation
   3. telephone and fax
   4. expert advice
   5. honoraria for refugee and immigrant client representatives.

That the CCR:

1. Ask the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to instruct his department to grant work permits to refused refugee claimants eligible for the "interim measures" programme;
2. Urge the Canadian Government to use its best efforts to ensure basic health care for refugee claimants awaiting processing through the "interim measures" programme;
3. Urge the Minister to impose a moratorium on removals of all failed refugee claimants pending the outcome of the "interim measures programme".

That the CCR:

1. Adopt the week in which April 4 falls each year as Refugee Awareness Week and April 4 as Refugee Rights Day;
2. Recommend to its members the organization of programmes to promote greater understanding of the plight of refugees at this time each year.

That the CCR write to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration urging him to fully recognize Settlement Worker skills by providing funds to allow settlement agencies to implement an adequate salary structure and benefit package including health and retirement plans.