Proposed cuts to refugee numbers ‘troubling’

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This article was published 18/11/2024 (673 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mennonite Central Committee Canada has sent a letter to the federal government to express disappointment over proposed reductions to the numbers of immigrants and refugees it will allow into the country.

The letter, sent this month to Immigration Minister Marc Miller, says the “proposed reduction in the number of resettled refugees Canada is willing to accept is particularly troubling, given the escalating global need for durable solutions.”

MCC says there are more than 122 million forcibly displaced individuals worldwide, including almost 38 million refugees.

Canada has historically been a leader in providing protection and new homes for refugees, the letter goes on to say, adding that reducing the number of people Canada will take in “sends the wrong message at a critical time.”

The letter was sent in response to an announcement in October by the federal government that Canada would drastically decrease the number of immigrants it would accept over the next three years.

Canada is slated to receive 395,000 new permanent residents in 2025, a 21 per cent drop from the previous target of 500,000 people. In 2026, the number will decline to 380,000 and, in 2027, 365,000.

“The pressures on housing and social services require a more sustainable approach to welcoming newcomers. It is also clear that Canadians want the federal government to better manage the immigration system,” Miller said at the Oct. 24 announcement.

The government said it was responding to public concern that immigration is affecting housing supply and health-care wait times. A Leger poll in late August found 65 per cent of Canadians think the government is admitting too many immigrants.

Brian Dyck is the national migration and resettlement program co-ordinator for MCC Canada. In that role, he and his counterparts in MCC provincial offices across the country provide expertise and linkages to the federal government for congregations and other groups that want to sponsor refugees to come to Canada.

For him, rising needs around the world indicate that Canada “needs to do more for refugees, rather than less.”

Cutting back sends the wrong message about Canada to the world, said Dyck, who works out of the organization’s Winnipeg office.

He acknowledged that many Canadians are worried about the impact of immigration on things such as housing, but said it’s important to know the housing problem was not created by immigrants.

“Canada has under-invested in housing,” he said. “Cutting immigration is not going to solve that problem.”

MCC is prepared to work with the government to share that message to Canadians, he said, along with communicating that immigrants and refugees are an economic benefit overall since they tend to be younger, hard-working and contribute to society in many ways, including by paying taxes.

“We need to make sure people in Canada know this is not a problem,” Dyck said, adding that admitting more refugees and immigrants when Canada is facing a crisis of an aging workforce is part of the solution.

While those arguments are strong reasons to maintain strong support for admitting refugees, the main reason to advocate for people in need of safety is MCC’s mission of following Christ and “welcoming the stranger,” Dyck said.

At the same time, Dyck knows it will be challenging for MCC to continue to support refugee resettlement.

While he believes Mennonite congregations in Canada care about refugees and many want to continue to support them, churches “are not as big or as numerous as they used to be,” he said.

MCC is looking for ways to expand its traditional base of support beyond Mennonite churches — something that happened in 2015 when Syrians came to Canada and groups other than churches responded. “It makes me so happy when I see a diverse group of people coming together to welcome a refugee,” Dyck said.

One thing MCC learned during the surge of Syrian refugees is that Canadians think of refugee sponsorship as something that Canada does, and that MCC “is considered a leader,” he said. “Many people were proud to be a part of this effort because it was a way they felt they could make a difference.”

MCC has helped churches and other groups settle 13,500 refugees in Canada since the late 1970s. Its role is to match refugees with sponsoring churches and groups, do the necessary paperwork and submit the applications to the government, then provide expertise and other support to sponsors.

The organization typically helps to bring about 400 to 500 refugees to this country each year. Last year, MCC helped 452 refugees resettle in Canada, including 108 who came to Manitoba. The average cost per family of four is between $25,000 to $30,000 for a year.

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