http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/ What's on the minds of young leaders from around the globe? en-us http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/243389 Are visitors from developing countries being denied entry into Canada due to old rules?

Aug 21, 2007 04:30 AM
Nicholas Keung
IMMIGRATION/DIVERSITY REPORTER
The Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/248246

Guillermo Duarte had a lot to prove just to take a two-week vacation to visit his brother in Canada.

The engineer, 36, had to convince Canadian visa officers that he, his engineer wife, Luz, and their younger children Fernando, 10, and Faviola, 8, had strong enough ties to Guatemala to ensure they would leave Canada after a visit to his brother, Mauricio, in Toronto.

But after paying a non-refundable fee of $300, they were denied visitor's visas. (Even leaving two teens at home didn't convince the officer they wouldn't stay in Canada.)

While the denial cost the Duartes a ruined vacation, for other prospective visitors it might mean not being able to bid farewell to a dying relative, attend a loved one's wedding, or see a newborn grandchild.

This summer, the body of immigrant Hu Xiu-hua lay unclaimed in a Toronto morgue for eight weeks because her retired parents in China were denied a visa six times.

As a growing number of Canada's immigrants arrive from developing countries such as China, India and the Philippines, whose citizens need visas to visit, the problem of denials is becoming more acute.

Critics wonder if overseas visa officers grasp Canada's new reality when they reject entry with the stroke of a pen. A refusal may permanently affect future attempts.

"It's a very big problem for our community," says Gurmeet Singh of Brampton's Nanaksar Satsang Sabha Sikh temple. "And it's going to get worse ... if our visa officials don't change their attitude and show some compassion."

Visas are imposed to help "facilitate the entry of bonafide visitors to Canada for such purposes as trade, commerce, tourism, international understanding, and cultural, educational and scientific activities, while also protecting the health, safety and security of Canadian society," says Citizenship and Immigration spokesperson Karen Shadd-Evelyn.

New Democrat MP Olivia Chow (Trinity-Spadina) says her office has 65 outstanding complaints from constituents involving relatives' failed visa applications.

"Visa officers have the discretionary power to decide who to let in. There's no humanitarian and compassionate consideration. Their decisions are completely arbitrary and don't get reviewed," Chow says. "The onus should've been on the Canadian officials to show that these people would not leave Canada after their visits."

Duarte walked into the Canadian embassy in Guatemala City last month, hands full of documents: pay stubs, an employer letter, bank statements, the deeds on his three properties and a passport to show his lengthy travel history.

When his first try failed, his brother in Canada wrote an official invitation and asked his local councillor, MP and even a senator to intervene. The visa office later called Duarte in to apply for a minister's special permit for an extra $185. But by then, the date was too close to the family's booked vacation time and the airfare too expensive. "We are all disappointed," says Mauricio Duarte, who immigrated 17 years ago. "Whenever we go back home, we stay with our families and relatives. We would like to play hosts to someone when they come here."

Lawyer Avvy Go, director of the Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic, points out there's no guarantee that visitors from visa-exempt countries would leave Canada either.

"There's ... an underlying prejudicial overtone against those from developing countries. It's not really just a class issue, because you can be a millionaire in China but still get rejected," she says. "The visa ... is to protect our border from the `undesirables.' That's why we welcome some more than others."

Shadd-Evelyn says visa officers consider many factors in their decision, such as whether applicants can document that they have enough money to fund their stay.

Rather than paint everyone from the developing world with the same brush, says Liberal MP Colleen Beaumier (Brampton West), Ottawa should start collecting exit records on visitors so as to identify offenders, and monitor whether visa officers exercise "discretion" fairly.

Immigration lawyer Guidy Mamann says that since 9/11 visa offices have been under pressure to scrutinize applicants more closely, but with no new resources. They're inclined to be strict, he notes.

"Immigration reacts slowly to the global economic and political changes. Countries like China and India are becoming bigger economic powers," says Mamann, an ex-immigration officer. "My concern is our visa officers are still using outdated standards to judge these applications, (believing) these people will come and stay in Canada."

If nothing changes, he adds, Canada stands to lose the substantial economic benefits from delegates attending conferences, buyers going to trade shows and tourists all in a world that's become closer and more intimate than ever before.

Entry requirements

Countries whose citizens need visas to visit: 148

Where: Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, South and Central America

Non-refundable fees: single entry, $75 per person; multiple entry $150; $400 per family

Applications received at visa posts annually: 1 million

Approval rate: 80 per cent

Top 10 visitor source countries: United Kingdom, France, Japan, Germany, Mexico, Australia, South Korea, China, Netherlands and India

Visa-required countries in top 10: 2 (China and India)

Top 10 immigrant source countries: China, India, Philippines, Pakistan, United States, Iran, United Kingdom, Korea, Colombia and France

Visa-required countries in top 10: 6 (except U.S., U.K., Korea and France)]]> Tue, 21 Aug 2007 01:22:00 EDT http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/243389 51.75 -1.25 51.75 -1.25 http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/212449 Wed, 30 May 2007 23:13:00 EDT http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/212449 51.75 -1.25 51.75 -1.25 http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/209949 New bill misses point

May 24, 2007 04:30 AM
Allan Thompson

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Diane Finley has taken steps to keep
vulnerable people out of Canada with a new bill that would instruct
immigration officers to deny work permits to foreign strippers or others
bound for "humiliating or degrading treatment." According to Finley and
her officials, these measures would help "strippers, low-skilled labourers
as well as potential victims of human trafficking," by keeping them out of
Canada and out of the degrading work.

Some newcomers to Canada would tell you strippers are not the only people
forced to work in degrading, demoralizing jobs after they arrive. Talk to
the skilled professionals driving cabs, the doctors working as orderlies
and the lawyers making telemarketing calls. They need Finley's attention
too.

Some critics see Finley's proposal as a crass political move designed to
conjure up memories of the Liberal era "strippergate," the case of an
exotic dancer who ended up working for then immigration minister Judy
Sgro. Indeed, Finley made an explicit connection to the Sgro situation in
her public rationale for the proposed changes.

Certainly there is reason to question whether Finley's proposal to use
legislative changes to block strippers should top the agenda, or even if
it is the most effective way to deal with victims of human trafficking, or
those in vulnerable situations.

The Canadian Council for Refugees, an umbrella organization for groups
dealing with refugees, has been floating a proposal for months for
legislative change that would provide more protection for victims of
trafficking who find themselves in Canada. Notably the refugee council
proposal deals with helping vulnerable people in Canada, rather than
focusing on keeping vulnerable people out of the country.

According to the refugee council, provisions in the law now serve only to
criminalize trafficking and promote the detention of trafficked persons.
The refugee council is calling for explicit changes that would make it a
priority to protect the human rights of trafficked persons in Canada.

The refugee council says the rules for how trafficked persons can seek
temporary residence in Canada are of limited use. For one thing,
applicants have to meet a high standard to prove they are indeed a victim
of trafficking. And they are obliged to talk to law enforcement officials
as part of the process of being allowed to remain, something the council
fears would deter many from even coming forward.

The refugee council's proposals are worth a look, especially if we are
serious about dealing with human trafficking.

And when it comes to addressing the needs of those vulnerable to abuse,
other issues cry out for the minister's attention. Canada has been
criticized for its agonizingly slow process for dealing with requests for
resettlement to Canada by vulnerable people. The office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is aware of the problem.

Wouldn't it make more sense to focus our energy on the vulnerable people
who need Canada's protection, rather than devising ways to keep people
out?]]> Fri, 25 May 2007 17:57:00 EDT http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/209949 51.75 -1.25 51.75 -1.25 http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/209083
Montréal – The Canadian Council for Refugees today expressed disappointment with Bill C-57, tabled in Parliament on 16 May by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

“This bill does nothing to protect the rights of trafficked persons already here in Canada,” said Loly Rico, chair of the CCR’s Anti-Trafficking Committee. “Worse, the bill takes a condescending, moralistic approach, empowering visa officers to decide which women should be kept out of Canada for their own good.”

The CCR is deeply concerned about the exploitation of non-citizens in Canada, and the lack of adequate measures to protect them. The CCR has prepared a proposal to protect trafficked persons, available at http://www.ccrweb.ca/traffickingproposal.html.

The CCR finds Bill C-57 problematic in a number of ways:

- The bill fails to address the root problem of the existence in Canada of jobs that humiliate and degrade workers. Work permits can only be issued by visa officers after the employer’s job offer has been validated by Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC). Why is such work available in Canada if it humiliates and degrades workers?

- Only a handful of work permits have been issued to “exotic dancers” in recent years. Parliamentary time would be better used to address the broader problem of the exploitation of non-citizens in Canada.

- The bill proposes to address the problem of exploitation by excluding people, mostly women, from Canada. It is demeaning for women to have a visa officer decide that they should be kept out of Canada for their own protection.

- The bill fails to address the situation of the most vulnerable of exploited non-citizens: those who have no valid work permit. In fact, closing the door on valid work permits may expose women to greater vulnerability by forcing them underground.

- The government’s focus on “strippers” betrays a moralistic approach. Instead of passing moral judgment, the government should work on ensuring that non-citizens’ rights are protected and that they have the freedom to make informed choices about their own lives.

The Minister’s announcement of Bill C-57 is available at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/press/07/2007-05-16.html
]]> Wed, 23 May 2007 18:59:00 EDT http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/209083 51.75 -1.25 51.75 -1.25 http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/209079 News release
Canada’s new government to facilitate the immigration of stateless
Vietnamese living in the Philippines

Ottawa, May 22, 2007 — The Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of
Citizenship and Immigration, today announced that Canada will facilitate
the immigration of Vietnamese living in the Philippines without status
since the late 1970s through humanitarian and compassionate provisions.

“Canada’s new government will make every effort to examine the special
circumstances of this community, and to facilitate their immigration to
Canada,” said Minister Finley. “We will work with the Vietnamese Canadian
Federation to identify those still living in the Philippines without
status.”

Following the fall of Saigon in 1975, more than half a million Vietnamese
fled Vietnam, with many arriving in the Philippines. Several hundred
Vietnamese eventually remained in the Philippines because they were not
recognized as refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees. A number have since immigrated to other countries, including
Canada, as part of an international effort to help them. But approximately
150 Vietnamese remain without status in the Philippines.

While this group is not considered to be in need of protection, they can
apply for humanitarian and compassionate consideration. This is a
discretionary provision under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
which allows for permanent residence to be granted on humanitarian and
compassionate grounds. Applications received by December 31, 2007, will be
considered on a priority basis. This does not guarantee acceptance. While
the goal is to facilitate the immigration of these individuals to Canada,
immigration officers must examine applications on a case-by-case basis and
use their discretion to decide whether the case warrants exemption from
the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and Regulations.]]> Tue, 22 May 2007 18:42:00 EDT http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/209079 51.75 -1.25 51.75 -1.25 http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/209081 http://www.thesudburystar.com/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=533615catname=Editorialclassif =
Bill has politics written all over it
Editorial - Friday, May 18, 2007 @ 09:00

It is hard to understand why the federal Conservative government, having been in power for so little time, has decided the plight of exotic dancers needs to be pushed to the top of the national agenda.

The industry in Canada, apparently, has a shortage of workers, so immigrants are needed, but very few are actually entering the country for that purpose.

It is not possible to make an impassioned argument that a shortage of workers in the exotic dancing industry would somehow be damaging to the nation's economic health, but it is also hard to buy into Citizenship and Immigration Minister Diane Finley's bill aimed at barring foreign exotic dancers from entering Canada.

Bill C-57 would give immigration officers at foreign missions the power to refuse temporary workers thought to be at risk of exploitation.

It has the look of political opportunism, with the idea of sustaining the spectre of Liberal scandal.

Finley says the new legislation was merely a response to the previous Liberal government's scandal in which former immigration minister Judy Sgro fast-tracked immigration papers of a Romanian stripper who worked on her election campaign.

Said Finley: "The good old days of Liberal Stripper-gate will be a thing of the past."

She is also trying to play the moral card, which, on the surface, is hard to argue with.

Said Finley: "What we're trying to do here is protect vulnerable foreign workers, ones that could easily be exposed to sexual exploitation, harassment and abuse."

In 2005, after the rules were tightened up by the Liberals, 10 people were admitted into the country with temporary work permits for the purpose of working as exotic dancers.

And now the issue has somehow made it onto the national agenda.

While we cannot question Finley's stated and worthwhile intention of protecting immigrant women from being forced into prostitution, how does this bill address any problems with the exotic dancing industry?

Said Annie Temple, who operates an advocacy website for strippers: "Keeping foreign exotic dancers out of Canada will not address the issue of exploitation. If the Conservative government is truly concerned about exploitation of exotic dancers, then they should focus on ensuring health and safety standards exist at strip clubs." Fair enough.

If there are problems with the industry, address them. Simply barring foreign strippers, while leaving whatever problems exist to Canadian workers cannot be a pragmatic solution.

Finley will likely continue to paint this legislation as humanitarian gesture, but she has not made a convincing argument for the need for a new law, which will take up the time of parliamentary committees.

Bill C-57 is too half-hearted to be taken seriously and it is not an effective use of a valuable government legislative agenda. ]]> Fri, 18 May 2007 18:43:00 EDT http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/209081 51.75 -1.25 51.75 -1.25 http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/202765

May 10, 2007
OTTAWA – The Conservative government continues to drag its feet on fixing Canada’s refugee system at the expense of fairness, objectivity, efficiency and compassion, Liberal Immigration Critic Omar Alghabra charged today.

“This government is unwilling to acknowledge that it has created a crisis at the Immigration and Refugee Board, let alone deal with the ever-growing backlog of individuals awaiting case hearings under its watch,” said Mr. Alghabra.

“Most concerning is the fact that they are putting their political interests and ideology before those facing life and death.”

Mr. Alghabra made his comments following the passage of his motion at the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration today.

The motion rejects the intention of the Conservative government to change the selection process for appointing IRB adjudicators. It calls on the Conservative government to stop politicizing the IRB appointment process and to fill the 60 vacancies on the IRB with members from a pool of qualified candidates in order to process the mounting backlog of refugee cases. According to recent reports, the backlog has doubled in the first three months of this year.

Last month, former IRB chairman Jean-Guy Fleury told the committee that the government’s plans to allow the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to appoint half the members of an independent advisory body leaves the board open to political influences.

Since taking power last year, the minority Conservatives have allowed the number of vacancies on the board’s 156-member compliment to grow from five to 60.

All committee members voted in favour of Mr. Alghabra’s motion except for the Conservative members. In fact, the Conservative members will be tabling their own dissenting report to contradict the motion.

“The Conservatives campaigned on reducing political influence when it comes to government appointments, instead they are setting back the clock on significant progress that had been made over the last few years under the Liberal government,” said Mr. Alghabra. “This is further proof that they just don’t care about this issue. But Canadians care about the integrity of our systems, they care about the fairness of our processes and they care about the implication these changes will have. They continue to put politics ahead of the integrity of Canada’s desire to pursue fairness and compassion.” ]]> Thu, 10 May 2007 11:37:00 EDT http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/202765 51.75 -1.25 51.75 -1.25 http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/200229 Refugees (UNHCR) is sending a provocative Canadian-made television advertising
campaign around the world in an effort to raise awareness about the plight of
more than 20 million refugees.
The pro bono campaign created by ad agency BBDO Toronto, in partnership
with the UNHCR, is being distributed to a dozen countries, including Austria,
Belgium, Brazil, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Mexico, Serbia, Kosovo,
Switzerland, Tanzania and the United Kingdom. The creative focuses on
highlighting the refugee experience by showing what it may be like to be
without shelter, food and water.
The 30-second television spot features an animated sequence of a snail
being forcibly removed from its shell. The spot ends with the tagline: "If you
think this is disturbing, you should know its being done to over 20 million
people around the world." The radio ad announces an address in a well-known
Toronto neighbourhood and advises the residents of that home that they have
been displaced. The series of print ads contrast the daily living challenges
of refugees with those of Canadians. The entire series of ads can be viewed by
visiting the website at: http://www.unhcr.ca/help.
"We realize that if advertising can sell products, why not use its power
to help people understand that millions of ordinary people are caught in a
nightmare of persecution, violence and personal tragedy," said Jahanshah
Assadi, the UNHCR Representative in Canada. "These people desperately need our
help and the campaign will help to create much-needed awareness about
refugees," he added.
"We've all seen the news reports and images of refugees around the world,
but the challenge in telling their stories is that their experiences are so
far removed from our daily lives. Now imagine coming home after a long day at
work to find that all your personal possessions and the home you know have
been taken from you. This is an experience we can all relate to and we used
this as our starting point for the campaign so people could begin to
understand what refugees around the world go through on a daily basis," said
Patrick Scissons, VP, Associate Creative Director, BBDO Toronto.
According to the UN Refugee Agency, the most critical regions for
refugees around the world include the following:

1.8 million Iraqis have been displaced within Iraq, and up to two million
others have fled their country, mainly to Syria and Jordan; this represents
more than one in eight Iraqis who have been forced from their homes.

Two million people have been displaced in Sudan's Darfur region, and over
220,000 have fled to neighboring Chad, which is itself now faced with the
internal displacement of up to 120,000 of its own citizens amid growing
regional insecurity.
More than three million people have been displaced inside Colombia,
representing eight percent of the country's population as a result of the
decades-long armed conflict between irregular armed groups and government
forces. Nearly 500,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries such as
Ecuador and Venezuela.

The campaign will lead up to the internationally recognized World Refugee
Day, which is observed every year on June 20. It is a day set aside to take
notice of the world's refugees uprooted by violence and persecution, and to
offer support and assurance that they are not forgotten. The television spot
will be used as the main centerpiece to promote World Refugee Day in Belgium,
Austria, Croatia and Serbia.
The UNHCR-BBDO advertising campaign was recently honoured at the annual
Canadian Marketing Awards with five awards, including the gold, two silvers,
and one certificate in the category of Public Service Single Print/Outdoor/Out
of Home. In addition, the campaign received the prestigious Andy Rogers Award
for the highest scoring public service announcement.

About the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

The UNHCR works in 116 countries to provide protection and assistance to
an estimated 21 million refugees, and other displaced and needy persons. The
UN refugee agency, which has won two Nobel Peace Prizes, was established by
the UN General Assembly in 1950 to protect refugees and resolve refugee
problems worldwide and has helped more than 50 million people over the past
five decades. For more information, visit the website at: www.unhcr.ca

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

** I was really excited about this - cool that Canada is leading the campaign.]]> Tue, 08 May 2007 22:14:00 EDT http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/200229 51.75 -1.25 51.75 -1.25 http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/194787

April 4, 2005 marks the 20th anniversary of the Singh decision, through which the Supreme Court of Canada recognized the basic rights of refugees. The Court ruled that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects the right of refugee claimants in Canada to life, liberty and security of the person, and that claimants are therefore entitled to an oral hearing, in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.
http://www.web.net/~ccr/rrdayadvisory.html

To read the decision - click here ]]> Tue, 01 May 2007 11:31:00 EDT http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/194787 51.75 -1.25 51.75 -1.25 http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/194101 Refugee claim backlog soars in first quarter

44 adjudicator jobs go unfilled, as Conservatives `hijack' immigration board, critic says
Apr 29, 2007 04:30 AM
Joan Bryden
CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA–Canada's backlog of refugee claims almost doubled in the first quarter of 2007 as the Harper government continued to drag its feet on filling vacancies at the Immigration and Refugee Board.

As of March 31, the effective backlog, based on 26,164 pending claims stood at 6,164 – up from 3,495 at the end of 2006.

Over the same period, the number of adjudicators available to hear claims actually declined by one, while the average length of time to process a claim rose slightly to 12.6 months from 12.3.

When Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives took power just over a year ago, there were only five vacancies on the 119-member, quasi-judicial board. That grew to 18 by last July, to 43 by the end of last year and to 44 today.

The board has grappled with backlogs before. Indeed, 2005 was a banner year in which, for the first time in a decade, the backlog was essentially reduced to zero.

But board spokesperson Melissa Anderson said it is "significant" to see the backlog grow by almost 3,000 claims in only three months.

"Our previous backlog took a while to kind of build, really, and it was driven primarily by large, significant increases in new claims," she said.

"Whereas this time, what's quite different is really the number of refugee claimants hasn't gone up very significantly ... It's being driven this time, sort of internally, essentially through the lack of members (to hear claims)."

Mike Fraser, a spokesperson for Immigration Minister Diane Finley, said 39 adjudicators have been appointed to the IRB since the Conservatives took office. A new chair and vice-chair also have been named and the government is "moving forward with a national search for candidates."

Fraser noted the government commissioned an independent review of refugee board appointments and is implementing the resulting recommendations. Among other things, all new board members will have to pass a written exam.

The so-called reforms also give the minister more say in the choice of adjudicators. Critics fear that change will politicize appointments.

Liberal immigration critic Omar Alghabra (Mississauga-Erindale) said in an interview the Conservatives appear to be deliberately dawdling, "hijacking IRB for their own political benefit, whether to appoint their friends or whether to impose their ideology."

Alghabra said it means legitimate refugees are in limbo longer – an injustice to them and an increased financial burden on the state which provides health, education and social assistance until claims are settled. Also, bogus refugees get to stay longer, with potential implications for Canadian security. ]]> Mon, 30 Apr 2007 12:06:00 EDT http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/194101 51.75 -1.25 51.75 -1.25 http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/188217 Barbara McMahon in Sydney
Wednesday April 18, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

Asylum seekers intercepted at sea while trying to reach Australia are to be sent to the United States under a controversial refugee-swapping scheme designed to deter illegal migrants.
Under the plan announced by Australia's immigration minister, Kevin Andrews, some of the boat people picked up in international waters off the coast of Australia will be re-settled halfway around the world.

In exchange, Australia will accept asylum seekers currently being held in detention at the US naval base at Guantánamo Bay, mostly Cubans and Haitians who have also been intercepted at sea.

The agreement between the two countries, ratified in Washington last week, will involve each country processing about 200 of each others refugees a year.

Commenting on the scheme in a radio interview, Australia's prime minister, John Howard, who has a famously tough stance on illegal immigration, claimed it would deter people smuggling.

"I think people who want to come to Australia will be deterred by anything that sends a message that getting to the Australian mainland illegally is not going to happen," he said.

The opposition Labour party criticised the plan. The party's leader, Kevin Rudd, said the policy would simply establish Australia as a halfway house for asylum seekers wanting to reach the United States.

Refugee organizations expressed outrage at the scheme, saying it would be cruel to resettle asylum seekers in countries where they have no cultural connections.

Pamela Curr of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre said: "This is not a container load of washing machines that we've decided to reject. These are human beings.

"They're our responsibility and this policy is shredding the United Nations refugee convention."

The first group to go to the US will probably be 83 Sri Lankans and eight Burmese people, who were picked up in unseaworthy wooden boats in February and who have since been detained on the Pacific island of Nauru, where Australia processes some of its asylum seekers.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007]]> Wed, 18 Apr 2007 22:44:00 EDT http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/188217 51.75 -1.25 51.75 -1.25 http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/184687 Claude Lévesque
Le Devoir, Édition du mardi 17 avril 2007

À la veille d'une conférence internationale sur le sujet à Genève, le Conseil canadien pour les réfugiés (CCR) et plusieurs organismes communautaires locaux demandent au Canada d'ouvrir plus grandes ses portes aux Irakiens ayant fui leur pays dévasté par la guerre.

« Nous sommes atterrés de constater que le Canada n'a ouvert ses portes jusqu'à maintenant qu'à très peu de réfugiés irakiens, même si de nombreux Canadiens ont présenté des offres de parrainage », a déploré hier la présidente du CCR, Elizabeth McWeeny.

Selon cette organisation, le Canada n'a pris « aucun engagement concret » pour répondre à la crise qui a provoqué l'exode de près de quatre millions d'Irakiens, dont la moitié dans les pays voisins.

Le CCR demande notamment au Canada d'augmenter le nombre de réfugiés bénéficiant d'un parrainage gouvernemental. « Cela fait partie de sa responsabilité internationale », note Janet Dench, directrice du CCR.

Au ministère de l'Immigration et de la Citoyenneté, on indique, de faççon assez générale, que le Canada « projette en 2007 de réinstaller 2140 réfugiés du Moyen-Orient, dont une partie importante seront des ressortissants irakiens ». Vu la situation en Irak, le Canada pourrait en accueillir 500 de plus, a indiqué une porte-parole du ministère.

Ce nombre inclut vraisemblablement les réfugiés parrainés par le gouvernement et les parrainages privés et ne se limite pas à l'Irak.

Se basant sur les informations fournies par sept groupes communautaires irakiens du Canada, le Conseil canadien des réfugiés affirme d'autre part que les demandes de parrainage privé (présentées par ces groupes ou par des familles) sont trop souvent refusées.

Le CCR a décrit hier dans un communiqué plusieurs cas de refus au consulat canadien à Damas (qui couvre aussi bien la Jordanie que la Syrie), dont celui d'une famille dont une fille avait été enlevée et tuée à Bagdad en février 2005.

« Dans le passé, comme il l'a fait pour les missions de maintien de la paix, le Canada s'était montré parmi les pays les plus actifs. Ainsi en 1999, il comptait parmi les plus enthousiastes pour accueillir les réfugiés du Kosovo », a noté Janet Dench.

En remontant plus loin, on se rappellera que le Canada s'était aussi montré très accueillant envers les boat people vietnamiens, et qu'il a reççu en 1986 la Récompense Nansen du Haut Commissariat des nations pour les réfugiés (HCR).

Le CCR trouve également trop longue la procédure de traitement des demandes d'asile au consulat du Canada à Damas. Le resserrement des règles visant le renouvellement des permis de séjour en Syrie et en Jordanie, où se trouvent la majorité des réfugiés irakiens, fait planer sur ces derniers la menace d'une expulsion vers leur pays d'origine.

Le Haut Commissariat aux réfugiés, qui misait jusqu'alors sur une amélioration de la situation en Irak, multiplie depuis l'an dernier les appels à la communauté internationale en faveur des réfugiés irakiens, dont un retour en toute sécurité dans leur pays devient de plus en plus incertain.]]> Tue, 17 Apr 2007 10:39:00 EDT http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/184687 51.75 -1.25 51.75 -1.25 http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/172419 watch the video.

This two-minute Freedom Files video short provides a shocking glimpse into
conditions at a Texas facility to detain immigrants run by the Department of
Homeland Security. Of the approximately 400 detainees at the Hutto Detention
Facility, many are children who belong to refugee families seeking political
asylum in the U.S. after escaping persecution in their country of origin.

The video introduces viewers to children like two-year-old Angie and her
older sister Nixcari, who had been confined for months in the bleak,
barbed-wire encased Hutto facility, where children wear prison garb and are
held in small cells for the majority of each day. Recreational time is
severely limited as are educational opportunities. Access to medical, dental
and mental health treatment is inadequate. From one mother who was confined
with her 12-year-old: ".a psychological trauma my daughter and I will carry
with us for the rest of our lives."]]> Mon, 26 Mar 2007 12:37:00 EDT http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/172419 51.75 -1.25 51.75 -1.25 http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/172417
check out the tool]]> Mon, 26 Mar 2007 12:32:00 EDT http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/172417 51.75 -1.25 51.75 -1.25 http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/167328 Refugee crisis rattles Iraq

As war enters fifth year, escalating humanitarian woes remain unnoticed by much of world
Mar 20, 2007 04:30 AM
Tim Harper
Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON–Americans enter the fifth year of the Iraq war today amid renewed warnings that the 2003 invasion is sparking a humanitarian crisis unnoticed by much of the world.

"I don't think anyone has a good grasp of the breadth of the problem we are facing here," said Dana Graber, who is working with displaced Iraqis in Jordan for the International Organization for Migration.

As the violence in Iraq continues unabated, Graber predicted yesterday another million Iraqis will be uprooted by a war that has already forced 2 million from their homes to neighbouring countries, putting particular strain on services in Syria and Jordan.

Another 1.7 million have been internally displaced, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Those dealing with this burgeoning crisis say more and more Iraqis are fleeing their country without the means to support themselves, with some 40,000 pouring into Syria each month, according to the UN.

In Jordan's capital Amman, the population has been swollen by 30 per cent by the Iraqi influx, pushing up rents and food costs, straining health care and educational resources and courting a backlash from Jordanians.

The UN World Food Program last week launched an appeal for $1.7 million (U.S.) to feed Iraqis in Syria and the UNHCR is seeking $60 million in aid to deal with the displaced in Damascus and Amman, as well as Lebanon, Egypt and Turkey.

Iraqi refugees are expected to double to 40,000 in Europe this year and the U.S. has agreed to admit 7,000 this year, up from a mere 466 last year.

Ottawa has not yet responded to an appeal from Washington to open its door to the displaced.

"They are arriving here with the most basic of needs, food and shelter," Graber said from Amman. "More and more are living without proper health care or proper sanitation."

The UNHCR, in appealing for funding earlier this year, said it had planned to help resettled refugees after some stability returned to Iraq.

"In 2006, however, spiralling violence led to increasing displacement," it said in a statement, "necessitating a reassessment of UNHCR's work and its priorities throughout the region ... providing more help to the thousands who are fleeing every month."

In remarks to the nation yesterday, U.S. President George W. Bush again appealed to Americans to show patience, but there is precious little patience among a restive U.S. electorate.

The war has already claimed 3,220 U.S. lives and estimates of Iraqi deaths range from 60,000 to 650,000, according to one study. More than 24,000 Americans have been wounded.

By the end of this year, the price of the war in the U.S. is expected to hit $500 billion.

Polls released to mark the anniversary painted a black picture of life for war-weary Iraqis.

More than six in 10 Iraqis say their lives are going badly according to a poll done for ABC News, the Washington Post, USA Today, the BBC and ARD, a German television network. That is double the percentage who characterized their lives that way in November 2005.

The poll of more than 2,200 Iraqis also found about half believed the Bush surge of some 30,000 U.S. troops will only worsen the security situation.

For the first time, more than half said they did not believe they were better off now than they were before the invasion.

Against this grim backdrop, Bush is promising to veto any legislation that comes out of the Democrat-led Congress which would set a "date certain" for the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

Debate on a Democrat resolution which would withdraw U.S. troops by the end of August 2008 is set to begin Thursday.

"It can be tempting to look at the challenges in Iraq and conclude our best option is to pack up and go home," Bush said.

"That may be satisfying in the short run, but I believe the consequences for American security would be devastating."

He said these are early days of his troop surge plan aimed at securing Baghdad and success will take months but first there will be "good days and ... bad days."

His spokesperson, Tony Snow, said the Democratic bill will be vetoed so the House leadership should just sit down and negotiate something palatable to the White House.

"It is a withdraw-the-troops bill, not a fund-the-troops bill," Snow said. "It would also force failure of the mission in Iraq and forfeit the sacrifices made by our troops."

But Pennsylvania Democratic Congressman John Murtha, a leading proponent of setting a "date certain" for U.S. withdrawal, said there is no reason to believe the White House when it says chaos will follow a U.S. departure from Iraq.

"What has the White House said all this time?" he said on MSNBC. "The White House said there's weapons of mass destruction, the White House says we can do this with less troops, the White House says mission accomplished.

"Why would I believe what the White House says?" ]]> Tue, 20 Mar 2007 18:14:00 EDT http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/167328 51.75 -1.25 51.75 -1.25 http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/166807 16 March 2007
Free of airport limbo, Iranian embraces Canada

JONATHAN WOODWARD

VANCOUVER — After 10 months in a Moscow airport sleeping on cold floors, eating scraps from passengers and bathing in the departure lounge toilets, an Iranian refugee and her children finally landed in Canada Thursday.

Zahra Kamalfar collapsed with shock and happiness into the arms of her supporters, and a brother she hadn't seen in 13 years, mere moments after she descended an escalator into the arrivals area of the Vancouver International Airport.

“Canada, thank you so much,” Ms. Kamalfar, 47, said in stilted English, to an assemblage of news media and airport staff, before she stumbled to the floor, crying and shaking.

Her 18-year-old daughter, Anna Kamalfar, stood up to the microphones with her brother Davood, 13, in their mother's place, and said they looked forward to a better life in Canada than they had in Iran.

“I want a bright future for myself,” Anna said.

“I don't think about anything. I feel free now. I will see the sea, the sky, the sun. I say to everyone: Freedom is very important. Thank you, Canada.”

However, before the family's ordeal was over, the RCMP extended Ms. Kamalfar's legal limbo in airports when they stopped her for about an hour for allegedly smoking on the plane, an Air Canada flight via Toronto. An RCMP spokesman said charges were possible, but none had been laid.

The story of Zahra Kamalfar's journey to Canada spans two years, four countries, many legal appeals and a nearly interminable wait in the departure lounge of Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow.

Ms. Kamalfar and her husband, Iman, were Dervishes, members of a branch of Sufism that believes in mystical rituals. The Shah of Iran had granted them land. In 1979, when the Islamic Revolution overthrew the Shah, the Kamalfar's politics and religion suddenly became unpopular.

In 1986, Mr. Kamalfar was arrested for handing out leaflets calling for the return of the Shah, and was imprisoned for two years. The family lay low, and Ms. Kamalfar ran a boutique selling women's clothes while raising their two children. But in 2001, they returned to passing out leaflets, protested against Iranian President Mohammed Khatami and the death of several university students, and converted to Christianity.

In 2004, Mr. and Ms. Kamalfar were arrested again. Ms. Kamalfar was violently interrogated for “collaborating” in anti-government activities, and she heard through fellow inmates that her husband was killed while in police custody.

The next year, Ms. Kamalfar arranged for a 48-hour-release from prison, and obtained false travel papers. She and the children fled overland to Turkey and booked a flight to Canada.

The flight took them to Moscow and then Frankfurt, where her travel papers were questioned. She was sent back to Moscow, and held at a detention facility for 13 months.

Ten months ago, that facility was shut down and dozens of people claiming refugee status were immediately deported. The European Court of Human Rights put a stay on her deportation order after an appeal by a U.S. lawyer.

Unable to return to Russia, and without a country that would accept her, Ms. Kamalfar and her children were stuck in the Moscow airport.

“Aeroflot [Russia's international airline] gave her vouchers, and they got what little they could out of the food kiosks and slept on the floor,” said Washington lawyer Eileen O'Connor. “They had to wash in the bathrooms. When we met them they had blankets, because the airport gets very cold in the winter.”

Ms. O'Connor and other lawyers made an appeal to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees on the family's behalf.

“The hardest thing was to prove her story and get the UNHCR to listen,” lawyer Olga Anisimova said on the phone from Russia.

Communicating with Ms. Kamalfar was nearly impossible, Ms. Anisimova said. It wasn't until a Russian doctor heard of her case through the media and gave her a cellphone that she could receive calls from the outside world.

She wasn't supposed to have the cellphone, and had to be vigilant to avoid Russian officials. And people she believes were Iranian agents attempted to contact her.

But once her brother, who arrived in Canada as a refugee from Iran eight years ago, had talked to her on the phone, he got in touch with the Iranian Federation of Refugees, who called Ms. O'Connor's law firm.

Ms. O'Connor got in touch with Las Vegas lawyer Zohreh Mizrahi, who spoke Farsi and could interview Ms. Kamalfar and draft an appeal to the UNHCR.

On Dec. 21, she was granted refugee status. The families and the lawyers heard late last week that Canada had accepted the family.
“We are so happy,” said her brother, Nader Kamalfar, as he waited at the airport with supporters carrying signs and balloons. “All my sister wanted was to see the sun. We thank God this has ended this way.”]]> Fri, 16 Mar 2007 10:17:00 EDT http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/166807 51.75 -1.25 51.75 -1.25 http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/166805 16 March 2007
Ottawa cool to Iraqi exodus
UN, U.S. urge action on helping refugees

ESTANISLAO OZIEWICZ

Despite urgent entreaties from Washington and the United Nations refugee agency, the Canadian government is giving no indication it is willing to fling open its doors to refugees fleeing war-torn Iraq.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says the exodus of hundreds of thousands of desperate Iraqis is the largest population movement in the Middle East in 60 years and there is no end in sight "in the face of extreme violence marking today's Iraq."

The United States recently announced that it would resettle about 7,000 Iraqis referred by the UNHCR and would contribute $18-million (U.S.) to the agency's special appeal for Iraq.

This announcement also followed a public appeal by Ellen Sauerbrey, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for migration and refugees, for Canada to make Iraqi refugees "a priority in their resettlement policy, because this is an area of tremendous need and vulnerability."

But Marina Wilson, a spokesperson for the federal department of Citizenship and Immigration, said she is not aware of any plans to resettle Iraqis who have been driven from their homes and are now overburdening neighbouring Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

Ms. Wilson made the statement after questions about the Iraqi refugee crisis were put to Immigration Minister Diane Finley's office, which declined a request for an interview with her.

Ms. Wilson said the department expects to receive Iraqi applications for refugee status solely on a case-by-case basis from some of its Middle East offices.

A spokesman for Ms. Finley said only that the department expects to receive "additional" UNHCR referrals of Iraqi refugees later this year. So far it has received none.

At present, very few Iraqis are able to make it to Canada on their own in order to launch a refugee claim.

Last year, only 177 Iraqi cases were referred to the Immigration and Refugee Board for adjudication.

By contrast, 9,065 Iraqis sought asylum in Sweden in 2006 and that number is expected to more than double to 20,000 this year. Sweden is asking other countries to share the burden.

Canada's reluctance to get involved is unwelcome news to Hani al-Ubeady, 33, who fled Iraq after the 1990 Persian Gulf war and now works as a refugee-resettlement worker in Winnipeg.

"We need to fast-track the process to bring some Iraqis here to Canada," he said. "The victims of this whole war are Iraqi civilians and those civilians have no refuge to escape this violence but to escape Iraq.

"Life for them in Syria and Jordan is unbearable. It is very hard for them, getting [residency] permits, and is a strain financially."

Nanda Na Champassak, of the Ottawa office of the UNHCR, is holding out hope that Canada will respond -- either with money, a resettlement program or both -- before next month's conference in Geneva to address "the humanitarian dimensions of the Iraq situation." ]]> Fri, 16 Mar 2007 10:12:00 EDT http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/166805 51.75 -1.25 51.75 -1.25 http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/166221 [small error in the article below - advisory panel members resigned days - not weeks - after Fleury resigned]

Refugee backlog grows as Harper government fails to appoint adjudicators

Joan Bryden, The Canadian Press
Published: Monday, March 12, 2007

OTTAWA -- Thousands of refugee claims are bogged down in a growing backlog because of the Harper government’s failure to fill vacancies on the Immigration and Refugee Board.

More than a third of the positions on the board are currently vacant as the government prepares to change the appointment process, giving the immigration minister a greater voice in choosing adjudicators.

When Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Tories took power a year ago, there were only five vacancies on the IRB. By last July, that had grown to 18. Today, 43 of 119 board member positions are vacant.

As well, 17 positions have been eliminated over the last year.

Over the same period, the average length of time it takes to process a refugee claim increased to 12.3 months from 11.7 months.

More ominously, the number of pending claims - those at varying stages of the refugee determination process - jumped to 23,495 by the end of 2006, an increase of 3,000 over the previous year.

Not all those pending claims can be considered backlogged, however. Board spokesman Charles Hawkins says that for optimal efficiency it’s useful to have 15,000 to 20,000 claims wending their way through the system at any time.

Still, using that criteria, a backlog of at least 3,495 refugee claims has developed over the last year. And that’s following a banner year in 2005 in which the IRB, for the first time in a decade, managed to reduce the backlog to essentially zero.

Hawkins said the backlog swelled in part due to “lower productivity towards the last half of 2006 just because of the lack of decision makers.” He added that there was also a slight increase in the number of refugee claims filed.

Potential appointees have been screened and identified by the IRB but “appointment of candidates is the prerogative of the government,” Hawkins said.

Immigration Minister Diane Finley’s office had no comment on the mounting backlog and offered no explanation for the tardiness in filling vacancies at the IRB.

However, Liberal immigration critic Omar Alghabra said the government appears to be stalling on appointments until changes are made to the process that will give the minister more power over the selection of adjudicators.

He noted that Finley has signalled her intention to adopt a recent recommendation from the Public Appointments Commission, which proposed streamlining two different appointment advisory bodies into one and giving the minister a bigger say in choosing adjudicators.

That, said Alghabra, “gives credence to the theory that the government is trying to push its own friends and agenda in the appointment process.”

Just prior to release of the commission’s report, the respected chairman of the IRB, Jean-Guy Fleury, tendered his resignation. While he cited personal reasons, speculation was rife that Fleury quit because of months of tension with the government over the appointment process.

A few weeks later, five members of the existing advisory panel on IRB appointments resigned, openly protesting what they view as the impending politicization of appointments.

For them, the proposal to give the minister more power over appointments, was only the last straw. One of the five has said the Conservative government has been interfering in the process for months, refusing to reappoint adjudicators and rejecting qualified candidates simply because they had some link, however tenuous, to the previous Liberal regime.

Harper has fended off such criticism, maintaining that his government is simply trying to clean up the patronage mess left by the Liberals.

But Alghabra said it’s “ironic” that Harper appears intent on stacking the IRB with partisan appointments, after winning election on a campaign promising a higher ethical standard and an end to patronage. He said it’s hard to imagine any other explanation for letting so many vacancies go unfilled.

“There’s no shortage of qualified candidates and there’s certainly no shortage of files that are waiting to be examined. So what are we waiting for?”
© The Canadian Press]]> Tue, 13 Mar 2007 10:37:00 EDT http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/166221 51.75 -1.25 51.75 -1.25 http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/163347 TheStar.com - News

Supreme Court overturns anti-terror security certificates

February 23, 2007

Canadian Press

OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada has struck down the security certificate system used by the federal government to detain and deport foreign-born terrorist suspects.

In a 9-0 judgment, the court found that the system, described by government officials as a key tool for safeguarding national security, violates the Charter of Rights.

But the court suspended the judgment from taking legal effect for a year, giving Parliament time to write a new law complying with constitutional principles.

Critics have long denounced the certificates, which can lead to deportation of non-citizens on the basis of secret intelligence presented to a Federal Court judge at closed-door hearings.

Those who fight the allegations can spend years in jail while the case works its way through the legal system. In the end, they can sometimes face removal to countries with a track record of torture.

The system was challenged on constitutional grounds by three men from Morocco, Syria and Algeria — all alleged by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service to have ties to al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.

All deny any such ties.

http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/185051]]> Fri, 23 Feb 2007 22:51:00 EST http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/163347 51.75 -1.25 51.75 -1.25 http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/162293 15 Feb. 2007
Mahjoub ordered freed pending government review of case

COLIN FREEZE

Globe and Mail Update

TORONTO ­ An Egyptian who has been jailed in Canada for nearly seven years on suspicion of possible links of al-Qaeda was ordered freed on bail this morning by a Federal Court judge.

Mohammed Zeki Mahjoub worked on a Sudanese farm for Osama bin Landen in the mid-1990s but has faced no criminal charges since coming to Canada in as an asylum seeker.

He has been jailed under the Immigration Act's national-security provisions since 2000, but is now to be freed on some form of conditional release. Mr. Justice Richard Mosley has ruled that any threat that Mr. Mahjoub may represent has been effectively neutralized by his years of being locked away.

”It's pretty much house arrest,” said Matthew Behrens, an activist who has long been pressing for the rights of Mr. Mahjoub and prisoners jailed in similar circumstances. He said it is likely that the Egyptian detainee will be made to wear an ankle bracelet and remain mostly confined to his Toronto home, as his case continues to be mulled by judges.

Some freedoms will be permitted. ”He'll be able to take the kids the school,” Mr. Behrens said in an interview.

It's not clear when Mr. Mahjoub would be released. He is currently on the 83rd of a hunger strike aimed at a improving the conditions of a new prison he his held in, one built for immigrants labelled security threats like himself.

Two detainees suspected of links to al-Qaeda remain there, while two others have been ordered freed from prison in recent years.

While these cases are not new, they have drawn increased attention from Parliamentarians and the media in recent weeks. Mr. Behrens believes the Canadian public is no longer taking the government's national-security claims at face value.

”People have been able to see them as human beings not as these ogres and caricatures,” he said. ”This has been a human-rights embarrassment for this country.”

Five fundamentalist Muslim immigrants continue to be branded threats to national security, but three of them – including Mr. Mahjoub – have now been ordered freed until the government can figure how to deport them.

Recent court decisions have stated that these men cannot be sent back to their homelands if it is likely they will be tortured there. The overall constitutionality of what's known as the ”security certificate” process is also being reviewed by Canada's Supreme Court.

In 2000, two federal cabinet ministers signed off on secret intelligence information that allowed Mr. Mahjoub to be arrested and labelled him a threat to national security. Much of the case has since been revealed in court, but the government continues to use classified evidence to detain him until he can be deported.

The case has stalled at Federal Court, as judges weigh claims that Canada would violate the suspect's rights by deporting him to a state that would likely torture him. Before yesterday, a string of Mr. Mahjoub's bail applications had failed.

The competing national security and human-rights claims basically left Mr. Mahjoub and the others in a legal limbo for years. Recently, the hunger strike he and two other detainees have staged at a new Canadian prison have drawn the sympathies of the broader public and of Parliamentarians.

Canada's Parliament this week endorsed a Liberal MP's motion to improve conditions at the new prison, by giving the detainees better access to health care, family visits, and correctional oversight. The motion, however, does not bind the government to act.

Previous hunger strikes staged by Mr. Mahjoub and the others had been largely ignored by Parliamentarians and the public. ]]> Thu, 15 Feb 2007 08:22:00 EST http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/162293 51.75 -1.25 51.75 -1.25 http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/162611
February 8, 2007

U.S. May Be Mishandling Asylum Seekers, Panel Says

By RACHEL L. SWARNS

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 - A bipartisan federal commission warned on Wednesday
that the Bush administration, in its zeal to secure the nation's borders
and stem the tide of illegal immigrants, may be leaving asylum seekers
vulnerable to deportation and harsh treatment.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, which
Congress asked to assess asylum regulations, found two years ago that
some immigration officials were improperly processing asylum seekers for
deportation. The commission, which also found that asylum seekers were
often strip-searched, shackled and held in jails, called for safeguards
in the system of speedy deportations known as expedited removal, to
protect those fleeing persecution.

But the commission, which will issue its new findings on Thursday, says
officials have failed to put into effect most of its 2005
recommendations. It says the failures come even as the Bush
administration has significantly expanded efforts to detain and swiftly
deport illegal immigrants from countries other than Mexico without
letting them make their case before an immigration judge.

"We are clearly concerned as to whether, in addition to prioritizing
secure borders, the government is ensuring fair and humane treatment of
legitimate asylum seekers," said Felice D. Gaer, who is head of the
commission, which was created by Congress in 1998. "We are really quite
disappointed and dismayed by the lack of a response."

Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, the Connecticut independent who is chairman
of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, also expressed concern about
the slow pace of change. Mr. Lieberman said he planned to introduce
legislation by March to require the Department of Homeland Security to
adopt several of the commission's main recommendations.

Officials from the Homeland Security Department emphasized that they had
put into effect some recommendations, including naming the first senior
adviser for refugee and asylum policy and updating training for
immigration officers, detention workers and other personnel.

But they said many other recommendations were impractical given the
challenges in trying to stop illegal immigrants from pouring into the
country.

"We have taken their report seriously," said Stewart A. Baker, an
assistant secretary of homeland security. "But some of their
recommendations just weren't practical given the enormous flood of
illegal immigrants that we deal with every day."

Mr. Baker said the department looked forward to working with Mr.
Lieberman and would review his measure after it had been introduced.

In its report, the commission praised the Justice Department, which
oversees immigration courts, for training immigration judges on asylum
law, expanding the number of legal orientation programs for detained
immigrants and trying to improve immigration court decisions.

But the commission was sharply critical of the Department of Homeland
Security, whose border agents and immigration officers interview asylum
seekers at airports or land crossings.

Domestic security regulations require that immigration officials refer
an illegal immigrant for what is known as a credible-fear interview if
the immigrant indicates "an intention to apply for asylum, a fear of
torture or a fear of return to his or her country." The asylum seeker is
then removed from the expedited removal process so an immigration judge
can review the claim.

But the commission found no evidence that domestic security officials
had taken steps to ensure that agents advised immigrants to ask for such
protection or to ensure that agents did not deport immigrants who
express fear of deportation.

The commission also found no indication that the Department of Homeland
Security had taken steps to ensure that asylum seekers were not treated
like criminals while their claims were being evaluated. Mr. Stewart said
that it would be too burdensome to create a separate detention program
for asylum seekers and that such a system might create incentives for
people to claim that they were fleeing persecution.

Eleanor Acer of Human Rights First said the failure to address such
problems promptly had "real human consequences."

"Asylum seekers continue to be jailed in these prisonlike facilities for
months and, in some cases, for years," Ms. Acer said.

The commission also expressed concern that officials chose to expand the
expedited removal process before addressing the problems in the handling
of asylum seekers.]]> Thu, 08 Feb 2007 11:32:00 EST http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/162611 51.75 -1.25 51.75 -1.25 http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/161041
THE WORLD WITHIN / Government condemns potential refugees to danger
Ariel Troster / Capital Xtra / Thursday, February 01, 2007
Hundreds of queer people disappeared from Canada last year, and you didn't even know it. In fact, they failed to arrive at our borders. And because we have no way of knowing their names, we can't seek justice for them.

On Dec 29, 2004, Canada and the United States implemented the Safe Third Country Agreement, which designates both countries as "safe" for refugees. As a result, people are forced to make their claim in the first of the two countries that they reach. So even if a person fleeing persecution must cross through the US en route to Canada, they have no choice but to try and make their cases in the States.

In 2005, the first year after the agreement was implemented, the number of refugee claims dropped by a third, and the decrease at the land border was even more dramatic, with numbers only at 51 percent of what they were in 2004. In other words, refugees are getting the message loud and clear: Canada's borders are closed to them now.

And while we have no way of gauging how many people fleeing persecution for being gay or trans were refused entry into Canada, we do know what they can expect when Canada slams its door in their faces. If they only recently arrived in the US, they have the option of making a claim there, but they have to do it with in one year. They might be thrown in jail in the meantime, and if their claim is refused, they will be deported back to the country they sought to escape. So many have no choice but to live underground as non-status workers, with no access to social services, and the constant threat of deportation hanging over their heads.

According to Janet Dench from the Canadian Council For Refugees, the Safe Third Country Agreement presents particular difficulties for queer refugees.

"One of the big issues that we've highlighted is the issue of the one-year deadline," she said in a recent phone interview. "In the US, you must make a claim within one year of arriving. People claiming based on sexual orientation might not know that they are eligible for protection. And if they are coming from a homophobic society, it might take longer than a year to grow into an understanding of who they are."

This is not to mention the fact that the designation of the US as "safe" for refugees is questionable, especially when it comes to queer people. Among the reactionary legislation that the Bush administration has ushered in recently is the Real ID Act, which makes it far more difficult for refugees to prove their claims of persecution. The Act penalizes people for not revealing every detail of their humiliation during their first encounter with an immigration official. So for example, if a woman is fleeing sexual violence, she could be deported for not describing every excruciating detail to the male immigration worker who interviews her the first time.

The US also casts a wide net when accusing people of providing "material support" for terrorism. Even if refugees are forced at gunpoint to pay bribes to militia groups in order to guarantee safe passage out of their home country, they are likely to be labelled as terrorists by the US government, and deported back to places where they could be tortured.

According to Dench, the Real ID Act disproportionately affects queers because, "the law makes it stricter in terms of providing corroborating evidence of persecution. When people are fleeing because of their sexual orientation, it's often not spelt out. Homophobia happens in the shadows in many parts of the world. Both the experience of being gay and the way people are persecuted is not always explicit."

Dench also points out that the act gives US immigration officials the discretion to judge people based on their demeanor. Ironically, an applicant could be rejected for not appearing gay enough.

Growing up in a Jewish family, I often heard about how the Canadian government turned its back on Jewish refugees during the Second World War. When asked how many Jews Canada would welcome, one high-ranking immigration official said, "none is too many." Today, the Safe Third Country Agreement is effectively closing the door to people who would have normally qualified for asylum under the Canadian immigration system, including people forced to leave home because their gay or trans identity puts them in grave danger.

We might never know their stories. That's why our community should fight the Safe Third Country Agreement, before more queer people silently disappear.
Ariel Troster is a writer and activist in Ottawa. Check out her blog at dykesagainstharper.blogspot.com.]]> Tue, 06 Feb 2007 23:24:00 EST http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/161041 51.75 -1.25 51.75 -1.25 http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/153975
Total number of claims: 22,887 (in 2005: 19,624; in 2004: 25,521)

62% of claims were made inland
20% of claims were made at the US-Canada border
18% of claims were made at an airport

(This percentage breakdown is very similar to 2005. In 2004 (pre-safe third) 35% of claims were made at the US-Canada border.)

Region where claims made:
63% in Ontario
30% in Québec
5% in BC
2% in Prairies
0.3% in Atlantic

(There is some shift here from 2005 when there were 69% claims in Ontario, 24% in Québec. In 2004, 71% of claims were in Ontario, only 22% in Québec.)

Top offices where claims made:
Etobicoke: 7,806 - 34% of all claims
Montreal inland: 3,552 - 16% of all claims
Fort Erie Peace Bridge: 2,424 - 11% of all claims
Trudeau Airport: 2,108 - 9% of all claims
Toronto airports: 1,799 - 8%
Lacolle: 826 - 4% of all claims
Windsor Ambassador Bridge: 770 - 3% of all claims
Vancouver inland: 615 - 3%
(These offices together represent 87% of all claims)

Total claims in Atlantic: 67 (63 in 2005)
Total claims in Prairies: 476 (363 in 2005)

570 claims were found ineligible (just over 2% of all claims)
Of these, 403 (71%) were ineligible based on safe third
149 (26%) were ineligible because of a previous claim
10 were ineligible because of refugee status in another country
4 were ineligible on security grounds, 1 for violating human rights and 3 for serious criminality.

In 23 cases, consideration of eligibility was suspended

The top country of origin of claimants was Mexico: 4,914 claims (representing 21% of all claims)

Of claims made at the land border, the top countries of origin were:

Colombia: 748
Haiti: 489
Zimbabwe: 462
US: 403
Burundi: 360
DRC: 229
El Salvador: 187

* Note that a large proportion of the claims from US citizens are likely the young children of claimants from other countries (such as Colombian) who had been in the US before making a claim in Canada.

For those exempted from safe third country, 48% were exempt based on moratorium countries, and 31% based on family. There were 245 minors recorded as principal applicants. There were still no exemptions for death penalty.

Male claimants at the land border outnumbered female: 54% to 46%.

These figures are calculated from monthly statistics provided through the year by CIC. Note that statistics tend to “settle” with time, so there will be some adjustment with final stats for the whole year. CIC has still not provided the CCR with final stats for 2005. ]]> Thu, 25 Jan 2007 23:56:00 EST http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/153975 51.75 -1.25 51.75 -1.25 http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/154647 Just when can we trust U.S.?
January 25, 2007
Thomas Walkom

American Ambassador David Wilkins is right when he says that it's up to Washington – not Ottawa – to decide whether Canadian Maher Arar can enter the United States. He's right but misses the point.

The U.S. is a sovereign nation and can do whatever it wants. As Wilkins said yesterday, it is "presumptuous" for Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day to tell Americans whom they should let in.

If Americans want to refuse entry to Arar, a Muslim they sent to be tortured in Syria, they have that right. If they want to keep out Lutherans, or blonds, or vegetarians or simply every tenth Canadian attempting to cross the international border, they can do that, too.

Their country, their rules.

But what Wilkins and Day don't seem to understand is that the dispute over Washington's decision to treat Arar as a terror suspect is not just about this particular Canadian computer engineer. It casts into question the entire rationale for sharing intelligence information between Canada and the United States.

If Canada can't trust American judgment in this case, how can it co-operate in others? If U.S. intelligence is as unreliable as Day suggests, why is he moving ahead full-bore to further integrate Canadian and American security systems in areas such as no-fly lists?

Day says he's seen the still-classified U.S. file on Arar, but that the information in it is unconvincing – that it does not alter the Canadian government's view, based on an exhaustive public inquiry, that Arar is absolutely innocent of anything even remotely resembling terrorism.

Yet the federal government seemingly does accept as gospel U.S. intelligence in other areas.

For instance, Ottawa is trying to deport Algerian Mohamed Harkat as a security threat, in large part because of information the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency claims it received from an Al Qaeda suspect it's been interrogating in one of its secret prisons.

Even putting aside the probability that this information was obtained under duress (which, as Harkat's lawyer Paul Copeland says, does cast doubt on its reliability) what if – as in the case of Arar – it's just plain wrong-headed? Indeed, it is sobering to remember that if Arar had not been fully investigated – and vindicated – by a judicial inquiry, the Canadian government almost certainly would have accepted unquestioningly the U.S. claim that he remains a dangerous terror suspect.

That's because we've been taking our cues on these matters from the Americans.

After the attacks on New York and Washington in 2001, Ottawa moved quickly to integrate its security and intelligence apparatus more closely with that of the U.S.

In practical terms, as Justice Dennis O'Connor's inquiry into Arar discovered, that meant funnelling more information to the Americans and allowing U.S. agents to sit in on all Canadian security meetings.

Indeed, O'Connor concluded that it was probably the RCMP's promiscuous sharing of rumour, innuendo and misinformation that persuaded the Americans to arrest Arar in 2002 in New York, and ship him to Syria for torture

Under the new regime of co-operation, Canada also allowed the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other U.S. agencies to send more operatives into Canada.

One example came to light inadvertently last June after native protestors at Caledonia near Hamilton hijacked what they took to be a suspicious vehicle that had been cruising near their blockade. As it turned out, it was a U.S. Border Patrol car containing Canadian and American agents, including one from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

As well, Canada's soon-to-be-unveiled no-fly list is almost certainly linked to its U.S. counterpart, according to experts in the field. (Ottawa won't say one way or the other).

In short, we take our cue from the Americans when it comes to security. We assume that they know what they are talking about.

Washington's intransigence on the Arar case blasts a hole in that theory. It is making serious allegations about Arar, perhaps to derail a lawsuit he has filed against the U.S. administration, perhaps for other reasons. Canada's government has seen the American evidence and discounted it. In effect, Day and Harper are saying that America's judgment in this matter is not only unfair but also seriously flawed.

Yet if we can't trust the U.S. government to behave rationally here, how can we trust it in other matters involving national security?

As Wilkins says, we don't have the right to tell American leaders what to do in their own country. But if they are temporarily deranged, surely we are under no obligation to co-operate.]]> Thu, 25 Jan 2007 10:43:00 EST http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/154647 51.75 -1.25 51.75 -1.25 http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/112901 IRB criticized for dissimilar rulings on similar cases
Adrian Humphreys, National Post
Published: Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Two members of the same foreign organization who applied for refugee status in Canada have received dramatically different judgments: One was declared a member of a terrorist group, the other accepted as a legitimate refugee.

The vast discrepancy between decisions in remarkably similar cases -- based on the same package of government evidence -- highlights the difficulties of handling security cases and has drawn judicial consternation.

"The packages of documentary evidence in the two cases were the same, the time frame the same, and the issue to be determined was the same," writes Michael L. Phelan, a Federal Court of Canada judge, in a judgment published yesterday.

"In one case a member held an organization not to be engaged in terrorism, while in the instant case, on the very same evidence, the member found that the organization had engaged in terrorism," he ruled.

"The failure to explain the basis for the different conclusion undermines the integrity of [Immigration and Refugee Board] decisions and gives them an aura of arbitrariness which is no doubt not intended nor is it acceptable."

The answer, for Judge Phelan, was to send the case of Mohammad Ashraf Siddiqui -- in which the Pakistan-based Mohajir Quomi Movement (MQM) was found to be an organization that engaged in terrorism -- back to the Immigration and Refugee Board for a fresh hearing.

The case of the second man, Javed Memon -- in which evidence of terrorist involvement by the MQM was dismissed -- also remains in dispute.

The government has appealed that decision, with hearings on the matter pending.

The divergent assessments of the same evidence on such an important issue shocks a leading terrorism researcher.

"The notion of terrorism is fairly straightforward -- it is ideologically or politically motivated violence directed against civilian targets. I'm surprised that there are disagreements among judges," said Professor Martin Rudner, director of the Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies at Ottawa's Carleton University.

"There is the famous statement: 'One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.' But that is grossly leading. It assesses the validity of the cause when terrorism is an act. One can have a perfectly beautiful cause and yet if one commits terrorist acts, it is terrorism regardless," he said.
At the heart of the two Vancouver cases is the MQM, a political party in Pakistan with a controversial past, including involvement in sectarian strife and infighting.

Mr. Siddiqui was born in 1969 in Pakistan. While at college, he attended meetings of a student organization, which later became the MQM, he told immigration officials.

In 1990, the MQM split into two factions, known as the MQM-A and the MQM-H. Both Mr. Siddiqui and Mr. Memon said they were members of the MQM-A.

Mr. Siddiqui said he worked for the MQM-A in the 1993 election, during which he was kidnapped by members of the rival MQM-H and held for five days, he said. After his release, he was forced to pay the organization 3,000 rupees a month.

In 1994, after a demand for more money, he fled to Canada where he claimed refugee status. In 1999, he was found to be a refugee. He married a Canadian woman and settled in British Columbia.

In 2001, however, he applied for an exemption to the immigrant visa requirements,

an application that reignited the government's interest in his past with the MQM-A and sent him to the IRB for an admissibility hearing. Mr. Memon's story is similar.

He was born in 1964 in Pakistan and is also well-educated.

He told the IRB that he became influenced by the MQM in 1992 and then joined in 1994.

"Because they were doing good work and they were helping the poor people, especially for education and the people who were sick, they were opening hospitals," he said, according to a transcript of his testimony before the IRB.

He worked on donation drives and membership drives and attended demonstrations, he told the IRB, until he, under pressure, left for Canada in 1998.

He too married a Canadian woman and runs a restaurant in B.C.

Neither man hid his association with the MQM-A from the Canadian government when they applied for their refugee status and both said at their hearings that they were involved in only peaceful protests and political activity.

Both men rejected knowledge of MQM-A's involvement in terrorist or violent acts and both said they do not believe such accounts.

In both cases, the IRB adjudicators heard the government's package of evidence regarding the MQM-A, including allegations of violent confrontations and the running of torture chambers targeting dissidents and opponents.
The information included correspondence with the MQM, documents from Amnesty International, the British government, the Office of International Criminal Justice, the IRB's Research Directorate, Jane's Intelligence Review, media reports, and others.

Daphne Shaw Dyck, an adjudicator with the IRB, ruled in Mr. Siddiqui's case.

"I have reasonable grounds to believe that the MQM under the firm control of [Altaf ] Hussain is not only a legitimate political party but also an armed opposition group that commits acts of violence," she ruled.

"In my view there is sufficient specificity in the kidnappings, murders and rapes and other acts of torture that took place as a result of torture chambers run by the MQM."

Ms. Shaw Dyck also ruled that the MQM tried to "intentionally cause death or serious bodily injury to party dissidents or political opponents in order to intimidate them. Thus the facts that I have reasonable grounds to believe fit the definition of terrorism."

Leeann King heard Mr. Memon's case. She ruled otherwise on the same evidence.

"I find, however, that the Minister's evidence is insufficient to show that the MQM-A has committed terrorist acts. I consider the documentary evidence is either not credible or too vague to find there are reasonable grounds to believe the MQM-A has committed terrorist acts."

Melissa Anderson, a spokeswoman for the IRB said each of its decisions stands on its own merits and that the appeals processes are in place when a party believes errors were made. The Federal Court backed that up.

Judge Phelan said in his ruling that there is "no strict legal requirement" that an IRB adjudicator follow the factual findings of another member.

"What undermines the [IRB's] decision [in the Siddiqui case] is the failure to address the contradictory finding in the Memon decision."

He ruled that Mr. Siddiqui is entitled, as a matter of fairness, to an explanation of why, when two IRB adjudicators "reviewing the same documents on the same issue, could reach a different conclusion." ]]> Wed, 17 Jan 2007 12:46:00 EST http://cupofteaforme.tigblog.org/post/112901 51.75 -1.25 51.75 -1.25