CCR Resolutions Database

1. Human rights violations in Haiti have been described as catastrophic by UNHCR officials;
2. Many persons are unable to escape Haiti in order to seek protection as refugees;
3. There are very limited options for protection in the region;
4. The situation calls for a comprehensive regional protection plan;

Transportation loans and welfare levels of refugee support of government-assisted refugees under the Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP) force them into poverty;

The US Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children has prepared a Reproductive Health General Statement that outlines challenges to comprehensive reproductive health care for women, men and youth in conflict-affected settings and calls for increased funding and political support for reproductive health services;

1. There is a situation of generalized risk in Colombia;
2. The government refused the CCR’s request that it review the situation in Colombia in 2003; 

1. The Government of Québec is obliged by the Canada-Québec Accord to offer settlement and integration services that correspond overall to those offered elsewhere in Canada;
2. The financial compensation from the federal government provided for in the Accord will go in 2005-2006 from $160 million to $180 million;
3. The Government of Québec is refusing to account for the amounts received from the federal government;
4. Le ministère de l’Immigration et des Communautés culturelles du Québec (MICC) has decided to abolish the Québec twinning program by eliminating the specific funding for the twinning (Host) activities of settlement and integration organizations;
5. The twinning program is the only settlement and integration program that directly involves the host society;

1. There are 22 Uighurs, Chinese nationals, being detained by the USA in Guantanamo Bay since their arrest in Afghanistan following the events of September11, 2001;
2. The USA has determined that these Uighurs do not pose a threat to national security but is considering refoulement back to China where they will face persecution and torture at the hands of the regime that views them as terrorist activists advocating separation of their homeland;

1. The Refugee Assistance Program (RAP) is responsible for the provision of settlement services and income support for refugees deemed in need of protection by the Government of Canada;
2. The provision of these RAP services has been contracted to voluntary sector organizations;
3. The budget for the RAP program has not been increased since 1998;
4. The voluntary agencies across Canada have now reached a crisis point in their financial viability to be able to deliver services to government sponsored refugees;
5. The recent budget announcement of an additional $298 million dollars for settlement service for the Department of Citizenship and Immigration provides not one cent in additional funding for RAP services for government sponsored refugees;
6. Senior department officials have recognized the critical nature of the situation but have been unable to effect any significant change;

1. There are many Iraqis in European countries who have been refused refugee status by these countries,
2. A number of these people have no durable solution in these European countries and have family members in Canada who have been accepted by Canada under the Convention Refugee or Country of Asylum Class,
3. These people will be deported to Iraq as soon as the host countries consider it safe,
4. These people no longer have family or homes in Iraq,
5. The assisted relative program and last remaining member of the family programs no longer exist,

1. Protected Persons require Protected Persons Status documents to apply for Canada Student Loans and for Canadian refugee travel documents;
2. Some Protected Persons, particularly those with landing delays (for whatever reason),are issued Protected Persons Status documents with a validity of six months;
3. The six month limit prevents both acquisition of loans and the ability to travel outside of Canada:

1. The settlement service system is currently mandated to provide language training for certain classes of newcomers to Canada;
2. Language training in the form of sign language training is not consistently provided across the country;
3. Those who are hearing impaired also have a right to language training;

1. It is the intention of the Atlantic provincial and municipal governments to attract and encourage immigrants and refugees to move to and remain in the region;
2. There is already a deficiency of educational resources available;

1. Current limits on the numbers of immigrants and refugees who can come to Canada each year and the unequal division of these numbers between economic and humanitarian classes of immigrants have resulted in long waiting periods for the re-unification of families and the admission of sponsored refugees;
2. The limits on and division of immigrant and refugee numbers appear to be arbitrary and to have been set without public consultation;
3. It is widely recognized that family reunification is taking too long and the delays in the processing are causing great hardship;
4. The group with the most pressing need for family re-unification is refugees;

The Settlement Allocation Model has proven problematic with regards to smaller centres with high proportions of refugees, and centres receiving substantial secondary migration, and grossly inequitable for larger centres;

1. Article 31 of the 1951 Refugee Convention exempts refugees from being punished because of their illegal entry or presence;
2. UNHCR’s Revised Guidelines on the Detention of Asylum Seekers states that “[a]s a general rule, asylum seekers should not be detained”, and that “the use of detention, in many instances, is contrary to the norms and principles of international law.”
3. There are 68 refugee claimants from Ethiopia and Eritrea who are detained in Israel for prolonged periods amounting to 18 months and without obtaining adequate assistance from any party except for the African Refugees Development Centre(ARDC);
4. The detention practices are inconsistent with established human rights standards;
5. The Israeli authorities, after long discussion and debate, have agreed to release these detainees on an estimated bail of between $8,500-10,000 CAD for two months if there is tangible evidence of a sponsorship application to Canada and for 12months if an invitation for an interview at the Canadian Embassy is extended;

1. The IRB will not conduct any refugee determination hearings until claimants have received security clearances;
2. IRPA requires that hearings be held expeditiously;

1. CIC has devolved settlement responsibilities to some provinces and is in negotiations to do so with others;
2. CIC has a responsibility to ensure comparable and accountable services to all immigrants and refugees across the country;
3. BC has moved in policy and management directions quite distinct from CIC’s;

1. The UNHCR has demonstrated a keen interest in enhancing the role of NGOs in refugee resettlement, in particular in group processing initiatives;
2. The 2003-2004 Group Processing Initiative, that is currently under evaluation by CIC, reveals some areas for improvement that may be addressed in part by NGO participation;

1. IRPA Regulation 117(9)(d) provides for a lifetime exclusion from sponsoring a family member, with no discretion to consider an explanation, however compelling, or to impose a lesser period of exclusion;
2. Ina significant number of cases, there has been no intention to misrepresent and, in other cases, there are mitigating circumstances that may constitute justification;
3. The application of this article is having an extremely detrimental impact on many innocent children, in violation of Canada’s obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child to take into account the “best interests of the child” concerned in any decision of a public body;
4. IRPA provides for a general inadmissibility of two years in cases of misrepresentation and officers have considerable discretion as to whether even that inadmissibility should be imposed;

1. Government Assisted Refugees (GARs) represent one of the most important mechanisms for Canada to protect those refugees in need of protection;
2. In recent years CIC has been selecting GARs on the basis of need rather than “ability to settle in Canada” which CCR warmly welcomes, which has resulted in increased demands on settlement agencies because of their very high needs;
3. CIC has recently suggested that this increased demand on services can best be met by reducing the number of GARs.

1. Many refugees are people of colour who encounter systemic, institutional and financial barriers to full participation in CCR.
2. Refugees and people of colour have played and continue to play a vital role in the CCR.
3. The People of Colour Caucus provides a space where leadership by refugees and people of colour can be nurtured.

1. There are many protected persons who delay in applying for landing beyond the 180 days because of their inability to raise the $550 cost recovery fee, or other valid reasons;
2. The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration has not yet satisfactorily responded to the CCR request to eliminate the $550 processing fee for protected persons;
3. The IP5 Guidelines state incorrectly that protected persons who apply late for landing and are being processed as humanitarian and compassionate cases, must meet all the normal admissibility criteria for immigrants, including medical, financial and identity document criteria.
4. Protected persons who are being processed as H&C cases and who don’t have “satisfactory identity documents” are being refused landing.

1. PRRA is not a substitute for an appeal on the merits of the case;
2. The PRRA process is dysfunctional and demonstrates a lack of respect for international human rights norms and for the Suresh decision of the Supreme Court of Canada;
3. There is inconsistent application by PRRA decision-makers in the consideration of what constitutes sufficient evidence and expert evidence.
4. There are insufficient guidelines for PRRA decision-makers with respect to how they are to evaluate evidence.

1. Workers on temporary work permits are not aware of their rights under the program and the charter;
2. Many workers are not permitted by employers to retain their personal documentation such as passport, return air ticket and health card.

1. The violence and lawlessness in Iraq continues to escalate and the possibility of a peaceful solution does not seem imminent,
2. Many Canadian families have been impacted by resulting tragedies,
3. Relatives and friends and former neighbours of Canadians are fleeing Iraq for Syria, Jordan and Turkey on a daily basis,
4. They feel compelled to flee because a member of their family has already been targeted and killed, because they have received death threats, because their children have been kidnapped and held for ransom or because of vendettas in the context of lawlessness,
5. The UNHCR has suspended Refugee Status Determination for Iraqis and
6. Those who have sought asylum in Turkey, Syria and Jordan are struggling to meet their basic needs because they left their belongings behind and they are not allowed to work.

1. PRRA and H&C applications are assessed by the same immigration officer in many cases;
2. The grounds are to be considered under PRRA are different than H&C considerations.