CCR Resolutions Database

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. Immigrants and refugees are coming to this country with qualifications and professional skills that are needed in Canada;
2. Many newcomers have been denied access to their professions or trades because of inflexible accreditation bodies;

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. Board members are under pressure to move quickly on cases at the expense of fairness, thus violating the fundamental right of refugee claimants to a fair and impartial hearing;
2. The Montreal IRB has started giving negative decisions with no credible basis in a systematic and abusive fashion;
3. There is a serious problem with Board members not treating fairly victims of torture and a general problem of insensitivity linked to a lack of proper training for Board members;

There is a need to share information on services for refugee claimants and to explore how the work can be improved and better communication networks established across the country;

1. Human rights violations in Guatemala have increased significantly since the April 1998 assassination of Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera two days after he presented the report of the Interdiocesan Project to Recover the Historical Memory (REMHI) which named some of the perpetrators involved in torture, killings, massacres and disappearances;
2. The REMHI report not only documents 55,021 cases of victims, holding the Guatemalan Army and paramilitary squads responsible for 85.4% of the crimes and the insurgency responsible for 9.3% of those crimes, but also exposes the way the repressive apparatus operates allowing powerful perpetrators of human rights violations to continue to act with impunity;
3. Luis Yat, indigenous mayor of El Quiche was assassinated in front of his wife and children last May 6 and numerous members of indigenous, women's and human rights organizations continue to be threatened and intimidated;
4. The Inter-American Human Rights Commission of the Organization of American States (OAS) requested the Guatemalan State to provide protective measures for 110 members of REMHI and workers at the Human Rights Office of the Catholic Archdiocese who are at risk;

1. There are Convention Refugees, particularly Iranians, who have applied for landing and had CSIS interviews but have had their landing held up for years in the Security Reviews in case management;
2. They are unable to travel outside Canada, sponsor family or pursue post-secondary education;

1. The scourge of torture continues throughout the world;
2. There is an urgent need to raise public awareness in Canada about torture;
3. The UN General Assembly has proclaimed June 26, 1998 as the International Day in support of Victims of Torture;

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);