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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Community groups unhappy with feds' refugee plans

By: Stephanie Levitz

Posted: 11/26/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

OTTAWA -- The federal government is seeking to off-load some of its international promises to refugees onto the private sector.

They're asking community groups to sponsor 1,000 of the refugees the Canadian government has told the United Nations it will resettle over the next three years.

But at the same time, they are restricting the groups' ability to sponsor refugees themselves by placing caps on private applications.

The decisions are raising concerns from not-for-profit groups they are being forced to carry out the Immigration department's objectives instead of their own.

"This minister... has found little ways to tweak it into being more able to name groups and curtail what formerly was much more open for private sponsors to name who they wish," said Edwin Wiebe, national co-ordinator of refugee programs for the Mennonite Central Committee of Canada.

Refugee resettlement in Canada is a shared activity between the government and about 80 groups, which have formal agreements with Ottawa to sponsor refugees.

Canada voluntarily accepts about 10 per cent of the world's refugees. Last year, there were 7,365 government-assisted refugees and 5,585 privately sponsored ones, government statistics show. Between 2006 and 2011, the top five source countries for government-assisted refugees were Iraq, Colombia, Myanmar, Bhutan and Afghanistan, according to an analysis of statistics provided by Citizenship and Immigration.

Private groups also seek to resettle refugees identified by the United Nations, but often choose source countries or individuals with some connection to their religious or community organizations. Between 2006 and 2011, the top five source countries for privately sponsored refugees were Iraq, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia.

But now there are caps on the number of applications private groups can submit, as well as other restrictions.

"We were not allocated any spot out of any African visa post. We received only 36 spots last year. How was I supposed to respond to hundreds of congregational requests to sponsor?" asked Khwaka Kukubo, an adviser to the refugee program at the United Church of Canada.

The government says the caps are in place so missions can work through the enormous backlog of applications.

But some say it reflects a change in government priorities.

"They are not willing to say, 'OK, people want to sponsor out of Nairobi, so we'll have to find some way of putting more resources so those ones can come,' " said Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees.

"Instead they say, 'No, you can't sponsor those ones. If you want to sponsor refugees, sponsor the ones that we will identify for you.' "

A spokesman for the Citizenship and Immigration department said the decision to ask private groups to help settle 1,000 government-assisted refugees was made because research shows refugees fare better when they are brought to Canada by private organizations.

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 26, 2012 A8

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