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Refugees
Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
http://www.cisr-irb.gc.ca/en/index_e.htm
The IRB is Canada's largest independent administrative tribunal. Its mission is to make well-reasoned decisions on immigration and refugee matters, efficiently, fairly, and in accordance with the law.Centre for Refugee Studies
http://www.yorku.ca/crs/
Dedicated to research on diverse refugee issues; informs public discussion as well as policy development and practice innovation by international, governmental, advocacy and service organizations; and supports teaching in refugee and migration studies.Research Resource Division for Refugees
http://www.carleton.ca/rrdr/
A branch of the Centre for Peace Action and Migration Research at Carleton University. Established in 1985, it functions as a clearinghouse and archive for material on the settlement, adaptation and integration of immigrants (including independent immigrants, resettled refugees, refugee claimants and family class) and their socio-cultural backgrounds. RRDR has extensive, specialized holdings on the situation and experiences of refugee women, on the physical and mental health of resettled refugees, on the cultural and social background of refugee groups, and on the settlement and integration programs of immigrant and refugee serving agencies.A Celebration of Courage
http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/cida_ind.nsf/0/65E07B586B440787852570200069BC6A?OpenDocument
World Refugee Day – June 20 is a day to think about the world's refugees, and extend to them our encouragement, support and respect. - Links to other organizations.Policy Matters - Immigrant Settlement and Social Inclusion
http://ceris.metropolis.net/PolicyMatter/2005/PolicyMatters16.pdf
For people claiming refugee status, there are usually years of legal limbo, with significant barriers to employment and social services. Newcomers without full status have lack of access to employment and training programs, adequate housing, and health care services.An Inventory of Opportunities and Needs in the Integration of Resettled Refugees
http://www.web.net/~ccr/inventory.PDF
The inventory is a mechanism through which resettlement partners may share information, offer resources and seek assistance on refugee resettlement and integration subjects with the goal of enhancing their national resettlement efforts and thereby increasing refugee resettlement capacity globally.Best Settlement Practices - Settlement Services for Refugees and Immigrants in Canada
http://www.web.net/~ccr/bpfina1.htm
In the realm of immigration and refugee policy, current proposals suggest that radical reforms are likely in the future. The recently released Immigration Legislative Review report outlining the proposals will be the subject of much debate in the months to come. It is however interesting to note the emphasis given to integration as an essential element of a successful immigration program... Partnership and consultation are explored in some detail in the report, with recommendations to make them more meaningful in the future. 1998Living in Toronto - Diversity
http://www.toronto.ca/diversity/working_groups.htm#immigration
Working Group on Immigration and Refugee Issues
To obtain community input on immigration and refugee issuesEthno-Racial Inequality - Report Card on Child Poverty In Toronto
http://www.campaign2000.ca/rc/pdf/TorontoRC.pdf
In Canadian cities non-permanent residents, such as refugee claimants, have the highest poverty rate (62%). The poverty rate is 52% among those who immigrated between 1991 and 1996, and is 35% among those who immigrated between 1986 and 1990.Refuge - Canada’s Periodical on Refugees
http://www.yorku.ca/crs/Refuge/refuge.htm
Founded in 1981, Refuge is an interdisciplinary journal published two times a year by the Centre for Refugee Studies, York University. The journal aims to provide a forum for discussion and critical reflection on refugee and forced migration issues.Refugees - Amnesty International Canada
http://www.amnesty.ca/Refugee/
Above All Else - A human rights agenda for Canada: For unless we also act collectively on the basis of our common humanity, the rich will become richer, the poor will become poorer, and hundreds of millions of people will be at risk. See also: Security through Human Rights.Refugee Assistance Program in Canada
http://refcanada.tripod.com/refugeeassistanceprogramincanada/
Non-profit organization seeking Canadian sponsors for foreign refugees. Describes aims, procedures, other causes and contact details.Maintaining Canada's Humanitarian Tradition of Refugee Protection
http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/est-pre/20052006/CI-CI/CI-CIr5602_e.asp#IV_annex3
CIC will continue to respond to refugee situations by endeavouring to achieve the planned levels for both government-assisted and privately sponsored refugees. CIC will continue to work with the UNHCR and private sponsors to identify those refugees most in need of Canada's protection through resettlement. In addition, pursuant to Section 88 of IRPA, CIC manages an Immigration Loan Fund. These loans are issued to members of the Convention Refugees Abroad and the Humanitarian-Protected Persons Abroad classes. They are intended to defray costs for medical examinations abroad, transportation to Canada and expenses associated with initial settlement in Canada. Applicants must demonstrate financial need as well as the ability to repay the loan. The current limit on the loan fund is $110M of which outstanding loan accounts totalled $41.4M on December 31, 2004. In 2005-2006 and future years, CIC expects to establish a similar volume of loans as in 2003-2004 (4,500 loans to new clients per annum with a value of $13.9M). Loan collection will also be managed with due diligence to maintain the strong recovery rate for repayment - currently at 91%.
Canada's Refugee Status Determination System
http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/library/PRBpubs/bp185-e.htm
The Immigration and Refugee Board, Access to the System, The Refugee Hearing, Appeals, Permanent Rsident Status for Successful Claimants, Immigration and Refugee Board Operations, Refugee Protection Case Law, Refugee Claims in Canada, 1989-2001Refugee Claims
http://www.cisr-irb.gc.ca/en/about/tribunals/rpd/rpdfacts_e.htm
Some RPD Figures - Number of Total Members at the RPD: ~ 195 Claims referred in 2004: 25,750 Cases finalized in 2004: 40,408 Cases pending as of March 31, 2003: 52,000 Cases pending as of March 31, 2004: 36,500 Cases pending as of December 31, 2004: 27,290Canadian Council for Refugees - CCR
http://www.web.net/~ccr/aboutccr.htm
Non-profit umbrella organization committed to the rights and protection of refugees in Canada and around the world and to the settlement of refugees and immigrants in Canada. The membership is made up of organizations involved in the settlement, sponsorship and protection of refugees and immigrants. The Council serves the networking, information-exchange and advocacy needs of its membership.Immigration, Refugee and Migrant Workers
http://www.nac-cca.ca/about/immicomttee_e.htm
With the impending passage of Bill C-11, the government will further cement its agenda of criminalizing rather than protecting immigrants and refugees in Canada. The new draconian measures of Bill C-11 far outweigh the few positive changes being made to the Immigration Act. In a brief presented during hearings held in May, NAC addressed concerns about the impact of the legislation on women and the larger context of immigration policies in an increasingly globalized world economy. Bill C-11 is now before the Senate for committee hearings in the fall. The National Action Committee on the Status of WomenThe Canadian Refugee System
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/refugees/
Through its refugee protection system, Canada offers safe haven to persons with a well-founded fear of persecution, as well as those at risk of torture or cruel and unusual treatment or punishment. Canada’s refugee protection system consists of two main components: The Refugee and Humanitarian Resettlement Program, for people seeking protection from outside Canada; and Asylum in Canada, for persons making refugee protection claims from within Canada.
Boat People: A Refugee Crisis
http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-69-524/life_society/boat_people/
They were prepared to risk everything. In the years following the Vietnam War, over one million refugees fled the war-ravaged countries of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Those Vietnamese who took to the ocean in tiny overcrowded ships were dubbed the "boat people." The survivors sometimes languished for years in refugee camps. The luckier ones were taken in by countries like Canada.Student Refugee Program
http://www.wusc.ca/campuses/srp/
In some developing countries, getting an education can be dangerous. Whether due to war or political repression, students are often persecuted, imprisoned or forced into exile. Since 1978, WUSC's Student Refugee Program (SRP) has enabled over 850 student refugees from countries such as Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Zaire, Mozambique, Sri Lanka, Somalia, Rwanda and Burma to resume their studies at Canadian universities and colleges.Refugee and Immigrant Grants
http://www.maytree.com/MaytreeGrants/MaytreeGrants.htm
The Maytree Foundation has been active in supporting the settlement of refugees and immigrants since 1987. Maytree Refugee and Immigrant Grants rest on the following beliefs: Newcomers make tremendous contributions to Canadian society and its economy; Settlement is a two-way process involving both the newcomer and the host community; Refugees and immigrants come to Canada from different situations. Therefore, they have various needs. To be effective, our responses need to recognize these differences; It is more effective to change social conditions through prevention and systems change, rather than to continually treat the symptoms.Discontinued education - Denied student loans, many refugees never make it to university
http://www.montrealmirror.com/ARCHIVES/2001/090601/news6.html
Over 13,000 refugees live in uncertainty according to "The Getting Landed Project" of the Maytree Foundation. Many cannot improve their job prospects because they can't afford higher education. The report says Canada is violating Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, since higher education should be "equally available to all on the basis of merit." … The Maytree report says making loans available to refugees is affordable. The government loaned $1.6-billion to full-time students in nine provinces in 1999. The report says granting loans to refugees would increase that figure by only $4-million. It says refugees would most likely repay their student loans, as "the repayment rate of the existing Immigrant Loan Program is steady at 92 per cent."Canada’s Refugee and Humanitarian Policies
http://institute.metropolis.net/cours/007_introduction-e.pdf
Syllabus - Immigration Policy and Practice in CanadaMore than a Nightmare - Delays in Refugee Family Reunification
http://www.web.ca/~ccr/nightmare.pdf
Refugees in Canada may face several different barriers to family reunification. People who are not refugees also confront unacceptable obstacles that deny or delay their reunification with family members outside Canada. This report, however, focuses on one specific problem: the long delays, extending to months and years, in processing the applications of eligible family members abroad to be reunited with refugees recognized in Canada… No one wants refugee families to be kept separated. International human rights standards call for expeditious reunification. The Immigration and Refugee Protection Actis designed to reunite families. Ordinary human compassion demands that families be allowed to be with each other. Concern for societal costs dictates that periods of separation should be kept to a minimum.
E-Refugee
http://www.e-refugee.ca/
We are a growing group of refugee advocates and volunteers who seek to assist refugees and those providing help to refugees, by providing up-to-date electronic research and information management tools.Refugee Women Fleeing Gender-Based Persecution
http://www.web.net/~ccr/gendpers.html
It is increasingly being recognized that the forms of persecution experienced by women are often different from those experienced by men, and that women are persecuted because of their gender. The evidence that women may be able to bring forward to support their refugee claim may also be different – and more difficult to provide – than that available to men. These differences need to be fully taken into account if women's human rights are to be respected.
In 1993 Canada became the first country to issue guidelines on refugee women claimants fleeing gender-related persecution.Assisting Immigrant and Refugee Women Abused by Their Sponsor
http://www.bcifv.org/pubs/Assisting_Immigrant_Women.pdf
Immigrant and refugee women who are abused by their sponsor face particular difficulties in accessing personal safety and protection. If these women do not have permanent resident status, or are at risk of deportation for other reasons, the consequences of leaving an abusive sponsor can complicate their immigration status. - This guide is written for service providers working with any client who is an immigrant or refugee woman; has been sponsored to come to Canada by a partner/fiancé/spouse under the family class sponsorship guidelines; is experiencing abuse by her sponsor; and wants to separate from her sponsor but is at risk of deportation.Who are these refugees?
http://www.emcn.ab.ca/critical_read/EMCN_Positions_and_Advocacy/
who_are_these_refugees.doc
Older refugee youth who often have no schooling or knowledge of English are placed in grades based on age when they get here. This can mean they have far too little education by the time they reach the age of 19, after which they are not permitted to attend public schools any more, or they simply become totally lost and discouraged and give up (some studies say about 90% of such youth do not complete high school compared to the provincial average of 30)... Experts believe about a third of refugees are suffering mental illnesses such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after the years of trauma they have experienced... Fear of the totally overwhelming new situation they face in Canada can push refugees to become very isolated. Their limited financial resources mean further they often end up living in very poor housing-- access to supported transitional housing for an initial two or three years... Many refugees live with great anxiety about other family members still in the midst of life-threatening situations, but the process of sponsoring family members to come to Canada is slow and complicated and the family members who can be sponsored are limited.Fixing the refugee mess
http://www.immigrationwatchcanada.org/index.php?module=
pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=48&MMN_position=97:90
Every independent analysis of Canada's refugee system comes to the same conclusion we've got it backwards. We are spending too much on refugee claimants in Canada and not enough on the real refugees in the camps. If our in-country system were less inviting, fewer people would take advantage of it and the money saved could be diverted to the Third World where it belongs… William Bauer, winner of the Raoul Wallenberg Humanitarian Award, served on the IRB but quit because of pressure within the organization to approve claims. He calls Canada's policies massive corruption of the noble concept of political asylum… This system is perpetuated because it has been captured by those who profit from it. The lawyers are well-organized while ordinary Canadians who want a just refugee system are not. Moreover, federal politicians love the IRB because of its $100,000-a-year jobs for party stalwarts. Originally appeared in Macleans, 2002Immigration and Refugee Legal Aid Cost Drivers
http://www.justice.gc.ca/en/ps/rs/rep/2003/rr03lars-17/rr03_17_intro.html
The most obvious legal aid cost driver is the level of demand for legal representation by people who cannot afford to retain counsel on their own account. Virtually, all refugee cases fall into this domain. Thus, there is a strong correlation between refugee claim volume and levels of coverage on the one hand and legal aid program costs on the other… The average length of refugee hearings in Montreal, where lawyers are paid a flat fee for each case regardless of how much time they spend on the case, is almost 20% less than in Toronto and 33% less than in Vancouver, where lawyers are paid an hourly fee for actual time spent in hearings.
The Protection of Refugees and Forced Migrants: A Cross-Sector Research Agenda
http://www.yorku.ca/crs/Research/refugeeresearchreport.pdf
The Canadian refugee determination and resettlement systems have been increasingly subject to criticism. These procedures have often failed to adequately serve either Canada’s interests or the needs of refugees. Refugees in Canada are marked by complex and intersecting experiences, identities and locations prior to and post-migration. Canada lacks a systematic and comprehensive research approach to refugee issues. Proposals are made for a major research evaluation project of the Canadian refugee determination system and smaller focused studies on issues of identity and space, settlement services, and the experiences of Québec.Student Loans for Refugees: A Success Story in Policy Change
http://www.caledoninst.org/Publications/PDF/553820711.pdf
One of the strengths of the student loans advocacy was that it educated and mobilized a fairly diverse range of actors, some of whom were not previously aware of the situation faced by refugees in Canada. 2003Discovering the Canadian Dream
http://www.lethbridgecollege.ab.ca/expressions/coverstory.html
Refugees often have more problems than independent immigrants. Education and health concerns are common because refugees lived in camps for long periods of time. Food is a big issue because many refugees came from cultures that are totally different from Canada’s culture.Fee Schedule for Citizenship and Immigration Services
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/applications/fees.html
Refugees, who are considered non-permanent residents, cannot receive the Child Tax Benefit.Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: The Lived Experience of Immigrant, Refugee and Visible Minority Women
http://www.pwhce.ca/ptsd-immigrant.htm
Immigrant and refugee women are coming from war-torn countries and from countries where they may have exposed to disaster, incidents of extreme trauma and continued gender oppression. Statistics Canada (1996) reported that 4,125 women immigrated to Saskatchewan between 1991 and 1996. 185 women arrived from the Middle East, 460 from Africa, 230 from Central and South America and 1,950 from Southern and Eastern Asia. In many cases, the process of migration and the experiences of settlement as an immigrant in Canada have added to the distress and trauma.Refugees in a Social Democratic Policy
http://www.misc-iecm.mcgill.ca/socdem/plant.htm
The public appears to have much difficulty differentiating between people choosing to come to Canada as immigrants and people who come fleeing persecution and seeking asylum in Canada… Restrictive immigration policies have forced many asylum seekers and migrants to make use of "illegal" and clandestine means to enter refugee receiving countries. Combating human trafficking has become a central part of migration control strategies for most governments, with little regard as to why asylum seekers and migrants make use of these rings, or the root causes of outflows. Even less attention has been paid to maintaining the right of all persons to seek and enjoy asylum from persecution.AIDS conference delegates claim refugee status
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/09/01/aids-refugee.html
One hundred and thirty-seven delegates of last month's International AIDS Conference in Toronto have claimed refugee status in Canada, most of whom have HIV/AIDS. The claimants, who include a large contingent of women from South Africa, El Salvador, Eritrea, Uganda and Zimbabwe, are staying at Toronto hostels awaiting hearing dates before an immigration board… Overall about 48 % of refugee claimants are approved and allowed to stay in Canada. But it could take a year until the claimants find out if they are accepted. CBC News, 2006Refugees - Non-Discrimination in Economic and Social Rights for Uprooted People
http://www.web.net/~ccr/escrrep.htm
The issues are in general not seen as "rights" to be litigated by the legal community. Furthermore, access to legal aid is limited and non-residents of course generally have limited private resources. Finally, those involved are afraid to rock the boat because of their lack of permanent status in Canada... Discrimination in the Right to Work? Discrimination in social security? Discrimination in Protection and Assistance to the Family? Discrimination in Health? Discrimination in Education?Interfaith Sanctuary Coalition
http://www.exponenciel.com/sanctuary/index.htm
Group of numerous organizations and individuals who fight for the respect of the sanctuaries, the implementation of a procedure of appeal for all refugee status seekers in Canada and the resolution of the cases of families and individuals currently in sanctuary.Cultural background of refugee populations
http://www.culturalorientation.net/pubs.html#CULTURE
US online Cultural Orientation Resource (COR) Center: the culture profiles provide short introductions to the cultural background of refugee populations.