Who is a Refugee?

A Refugee is a person who  Is outside his or her own country  Has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of:  race,  religion,  nationality,  political opinion or  membership in a particular social group.  cannot return home or is afraid to do so.

Refugee, Migrant, Displaced Person, Asylum Seeker?  Refugee:  Forced to flee a country due to persecution  Internally displaced:  Forced to flee but does not cross a border to leave their country  Asylum seeker:  A refugee who is seeking protection, but no country has ‘determined’ whether or not the person meets the definition of a refugee  Migrant :  A person who moves, usually voluntarily, to live or work, either temporarily or permanently. May or may not cross a border.

How Do Refugees Come to Canada? 1.Resettlement:  refugees usually are referred to Canada by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees  They become landed immigrants upon arrival in Canada  They may be assisted by the government or private sponsors 2.Spontaneous Arrivals (Refugee Claimants)  People travel to Canada and make a refugee claim upon arrival in Canada.  They go through a refugee determination process to determine if they are convention refugees.  If successful they are allowed to apply to become permanent residents  If not successful they are required to leave Canada.

Is Canada Refugee Friendly? (yes and no) yes  sponsorships/resettlement: Canada normally resettles 10% of all refugees identified by UNHCR.  In 2012 The three major countries of resettlement were: the United States (53,053 persons departed), Australia (5,079), and Canada (4,755).  Private Sponsors resettled an additional 6-7,000 individuals  Settlement – integration programs  Inland refugee determination process

Canada’s Resettlement of Refugees

Is Canada refugee friendly? (no)  Visa restrictions  Safe 3 rd country with USA  Short time frames to make a refugee claim  DCO (designated country of origin)  Cuts to refugee health care  Government promotes concept of ‘bogus refugees’  Slow overseas processing  Response to resettlement is declining; less government support and more private sponsors

Refugees in the World Today

Where are Syrians?

What is the rest of the world Doing?  Hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled the region for Europe as they have lost hope of finding a long term solution in the region  Sept , EU countries agreed to divide 120,000 refugees among members of the European Union. (does not account for large numbers already in their countries or at their borders)  Gulf Arab states' : Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates officially have taken NO Syrian refugees. (they have provided $$ to neighbouring countries to support refugees

What is Canada Doing?  UNHCR requested all countries to provide resettlement assistance for 130,000 Syrian refugees in 2014, 2015, and 2016  Between Canada resettled 1200 Syrian refugees.  In January 2015 Canada committed to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees by  In September 2015 Canada committed to resettle 10,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees by September  Aid to the region

How Does Canada compare to other resettlement countries?

Previous Refugee Responses of Canada

What is Amnesty International Doing? European Union

What is Amnesty International Doing? Research

What Is Amnesty International Doing? In Canada  Calling on all Party leaders to adopt a platform which supports refugee rights  One part time staff person works with refugee claimants in Canada  Advocacy on Canadian refugee policy  Restore health care to all refugees  Respond to Syria refugee crisis  My Door is Open for Refugees

What Can you do? Support Amnesty’s Call to the Canadian Government to:  Resettle 10,000 Syrian by the end of 2015  Introduce flexible measures, such as Temporary Resident Permits, for Syrians with family in Canada  Facilitate private sponsorship of Syrians  Dramatically increase human, logistic and financial resources to improve processing of applications  Convene a summit to plan medium and long term response  Maintain existing commitments to resettle refugees from other countries