CIMM Committee Report

Dissenting Report of the New Democratic Party

Introduction:

With global events and record levels of forced migration, it is imperative that the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration to conduct an extensive study of the resettlement efforts for Syrian refugees once they arrive in Canada. As the Syrian refugee crisis does not appear to the last humanitarian crisis resulting in mass displacement, understanding what went well and most importantly, what went wrong will help future government’s best respond to humanitarian needs and put in the place the best policies and practices to ensure that refugees are able to rebuild their lives successfully once they arrive in Canada through resettlement.

Unfortunately, it is the opinion of the New Democratic Party (NDP) that the committee report fails to adequately note and address the gaps and problems associated with the government’s resettlement efforts. It is really important that we adequately and honestly reflect on these missteps so that we can make the changes needed to ensure that we offer the best resettlement effort for new arrivals so that they could maximize the opportunity for success.

The purpose of this dissenting report is to make sure that we do not cast aside the key areas where witnesses appearing before the committee noted significant issues were present and need to be addressed. These issues included, but were not limited to:

• - The Transportation Loans
• - Housing
• - Access to Language Training
• - Access to Health Services
• - Inadequate Information Provided to Both Sponsors and Refugees

The Transportation Loans:

Refugees abroad that are accepted to Canada often must acquire a loan from the federal government in order to actually come to Canada. The loan, through the Immigration Loans Program, covers the costs of medical examinations abroad, obtaining travel documents, and transportation to Canada. According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) the average loan is about $3,000, and refugees must begin paying off the loan 30 days after arriving in Canada.

Currently, Canada is one of the only countries that require refugees take out loans with interest to be given resettlement.

On 29 November 2015, it was reported that the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship announced a decision was made that Syrian refugees who arrived after 4 November 2015 to those interviewed before 28 February 2016, both publicly and privately sponsored would have their loans waived. Critics contended it created a two-tiered and possibly even three-tiered system of refugee resettlement: Syrian refugees arriving in that window, Syrian refugees who arrived prior to 4 November 2015 and already have loans, and refugees from other countries.

In an exchange with CIC officials at committee on 12 May 2016, I asked why the government had decided on what appeared to be an arbitrary window for waiving the loans of only Syrian refugees. It was made clear that when the government was satisfied that it has reached its political objective of reaching their stated goal of resettling 25,000 Syrian refugees, the stopped the policy of waiving the transportation for Syrian Refugees.  It was explained that:

“Through the course of February we were continuing to interview cases to make sure that we hit the goal of having 25,000 people arrived by the end of February. We weren’t entirely sure, of the people we were interviewing, who exactly was going to be in a position to travel by the end of February, so we continued to interview more people. There were about 2,374 people who had been interviewed by the end of February but who had not yet travelled at the end of February.”[i]

While the NDP supports the outright elimination of the Immigration Loans Program, we do not support waiving it for selected individuals in order to meet politically motivated targets. It is our opinion that this decision is deeply unfair to refugees arriving in Canada from other nations as well as Syrian refugees who arrived in Canada before the loans were waived.

The committee had the opportunity to hear from a Syrian refugee who had a transportation loan, and the impact it was having on his family as they tried to make ends meet. Mr. Amer Alhendawi arrived with his family in Vancouver with transportation loans totaling $7,040. With the limited resources from income assistance, his family is unable to pay the minimum amount of $720 per month on their loan.  Instead, he was only able to afford to repay $103 per month.  Even at that level, the transportation loan was a major financial burden for the family. His family’s loan entered into arrears as he is supposed to be paying $720 per month. In his testimony, his second request was for the Canadian government to waive or exempt the travel loans.[ii]

Surrey, BC city councilor and co-chair of the Surrey local immigration partnership Judy Villeneuve spoke at length to the negative impacts of travel loans on the resettlement efforts. Connecting the high debt and its accumulating interest to government sponsored refugees (GARs) receiving the prevailing social assistance rates in the province of their resettlement - which Ms. Villeneuve characterized as inadequate – she spoke to issues faced by Syrian refugees and other refugee groups  she has worked with in the past.

“It hinders their ability to resettle because they have debt on their backs.” She went on to say, “We are seeing that most people are not able to make ends meet by the end of the month. We’ve seen an increase of over 600 new refugees going to the food bank in our city, which is funded not by government but by people in the community. They’re having a difficult time feeding their families. You can imagine trying to make ends meet in BC or in Surrey, where you live, on $1,100 a month. You have to pay your rent, your food, your hydro, your phone, your education costs, and your clothing costs. On top of all that, having to pay back a government debt would probably leave you with no assets.”[iii]

Councilor Villeneuve informed the committee that she has collected over 1,000 names on a petition calling on the government to terminate the requirement for refugees to repay the transportation loans, and informed the Committee that the Member for Surrey-Centre would be presenting their petition to the House of Commons.

Recommendation 1:

As all refugees, not just the Syrian refugees who were interviewed between 4 November 2015 and 28 February 2016, by definition, have undergone significant difficulties and trauma, in order to provide all refugees arriving in Canada with the greatest and most equitable opportunity to resettle and rebuild their lives, that the Government of Canada eliminate the Immigration Loans Program.

Recommendation 2:

That, in order to best address the acute needs of refugees arriving in Canada, while also providing additional support to lower-income Canadians, the federal government convene a roundtable discussion with Provincial and Territorial Ministers to advance a National Poverty Strategy and a National Housing Strategy.

Housing:

The federal government made ambitious commitments to resettle Syrian refugees. Originally, as part of their campaign platform, 25,000 GARs were to be resettled by the end of 2015. While the government originally maintained that they could meet this timeline after the election, soon it was evident that they were not going to be able to deliver on that promise.  The government changed its targeted timeline and later further altered it again for the 25,000 target to include a combined total of public and privately sponsored Syrian refugees. Despite relaxing the targets, this was still an ambitious goal and required large ‘waves’ of refugees to arrive within short periods of time. While the federal government had originally planned and spent money renovating military barracks to temporarily house newly arrived Syrian refugees, this plan was ultimately scrapped and the newcomers were placed in hotels as temporary lodging until permanent housing could be found. As a result, many Syrian refugees were stuck in limbo for weeks on end.  For some, this wait was over three months.

At the outset, it was highlighted that housing would be a major challenge in the resettlement effort due to the high cost of housing and low vacancy rates for rentals, especially in the major cities and urban centres in Canada.  Additionally, the make-up of Syrian families tended to be much larger than Canadian families.  With little to no assets upon arrival and GARs receiving only the prevailing social assistance rates, finding suitable, safe, and affordable housing was a major challenge. 

When examining housing delays, it is important to recognize that refugees coming to Canada are ‘on the clock’ as soon as they arrive. Refugees, whether publicly or privately sponsored, are provided supports for 12 months. The delay in acquiring permanent housing not only places additional stress on the refugee families who are trying to adjust to a new country while living in a hotel, but it delays their ability to get access essential programs and services to get them on their feet before the 12 months is up.

Mr. Mustafa Hajji Mousa, a Syrian refugee who was eventually resettled in the Kitchener-Waterloo area described the length of time and delays he and his family encountered as they resettled in Canada.

“When I first came to Canada I was in Toronto International Plaza Hotel for about 20 days. After that I moved from Toronto to Kitchener, the city that I am currently living. I was at the Reception House. From the Reception House where we stayed for 70 days we finally found permanent residence. The first problem we encountered was the high rents. Secondly, when we make an application we don’t readily get an approval because our young children, the neighbours are no comfortable. So, for 70 days we kept looking until we finally found suitable accommodations that would be within our income boundary.”[iv]

Prior to acquiring permanent housing, it can be difficult or not possible at all to access essential services for resettlement and integration. Children cannot register for school. It can be difficult for adults to register for language training courses without a permanent address; and if registration is possible, moving to their permanent housing can make the services inaccessible due to travel constraints. This means that in the case of Mr. Mousa and his family, 90 days - almost one-third of their resettlement time - was used up prior to finding a permanent home. Many witnesses at committee explained how difficult it can be for a refugee family to get back on their feet in a new country in one year. Delays are forcing some families to attempt this feat in nine months or less.

The committee also heard that some landlords were attempting to take advantage of Syrian refugees. Mr. Aleem Syed, a representative from the Scarborough Muslim Association touched on the issue of affordable housing as well as illegal behavior of some landlords.

“Affordable housing definitely is an issues and it is much larger than the Syrian refugee resettlement process. It is the same for anybody else who wants to come to stay in the city. With regard to exploitation, yes, through our colleagues we have heard of cases where the landlord would ask for the whole years’ worth of rent as a deposit.”[v]

The issue of housing was not limited only to GARs. Resettlement organizations and sponsorship agreement holders (SAHs) spoke to the difficulty in finding affordable housing for Syrian refugees, especially on short notice due to the large waves of arrivals. The Hon. Peter Kent appeared before the Committee, as he is private sponsor. On the issue of housing, he said:

“They had to find temporary accommodation, permanent housing, furniture, schooling, documentation, and so forth. While government-sponsored refugees were provided paid hotel accommodation and per diems for weeks – and, in some cases, months – before being settled, privately sponsored refugees were covered for one hotel night only, and the costs then went on the private sponsor’s tab. This was not a problem before November, but it became a serious financial burden for some private sponsors in December and January.”[vi]

Finding adequate and affordable permanent housing is the first and one of the most important steps in the resettlement process. Delays in finding permanent housing can significantly strain the remaining resettlement period, adding stress and uncertainty to an already uncertain situation for refugee newcomers.

Recommendation 3:

That the federal government, understanding that many steps in the resettlement process require refugees to first be in permanent housing, in addition to providing support while finding permanent housing, officially begins the one-year of support once a family is in permanent housing.

Access to Language Training Courses:

After obtaining permanent housing, it is essential for refugee newcomers to obtain language training in order to be able to integrate into Canadian society and successfully rebuild their lives. Unfortunately, after years of funding cuts for Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) made by the previous federal government, organizations that provided LINC programs lacked the resources to meet the significant increase in demand for services due to the volume and rapid arrival of Syrian refugees.

The backlogs and wait lists for language training programs extend across the country. This was succinctly described by Ms. Sandy Berman, a member of the Or Shalom Syrian Refugee Initiative sponsorship group explained that, “Access is very limited to Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) classes at the lower levels, and in particular those that include child care. This is a huge barrier to settlement and integration.”[vii]

While the federal government made additional funding available through the Syrian refugee initiative, this did not fully make up for the cuts or the increased demand.  Vancouver Community College (VCC) for example has a long and successful history of providing language training which connects to skills training and employment counselling for newcomers. Ms. Karen Shortt of VCC appeared before the committee and spoke to an example of a group of engineer newcomers to Canada who completed VCC courses which has led to 93 percent of them now working in Canada in their field. After explaining this success story, she lamented that,

“However, we are not fulfilling our promise to immigrants and refugees. We currently have over 800 students on the wait list for English language courses. Because of funding cuts this year to our LINC program, we had to cancel classes for 220 ESL students who would have started in April of 2016.”[viii]

Ms. Shortt expressed frustration that VCC could, and should be doing more. They have the space, they have the track record, they have the instructors; they only lack the funding to provide service.  This frustration was echoed by representatives from the Mount Pleasant Family Centre Society who spoke to how the federal government funding cut of six percent had impacted their capacity, both in terms of service provision and staffing.  

Mount Pleasant Family Centre Society offers a unique program to support refugee families.  The Circles of Care and Connection - Early Years Refugee Program provides early childhood development, family support and settlement services to refugee families with children from birth to six years of age. Despite the increase in demand, Mount Pleasant Family Society was not provided with additional funding.  When they were unable to continue to overextend their services, they had no choice but to cut services: “We’ve reduced our full-time employee[s]. We’ve laid off staff. We’ve reduced the number of hours we can provide for interpretation. We’ve reduced program hours.”[ix]   This despite the fact that research shows that mental health of refugee children is often affected by pre-migration and post-migration stressors and the Circle of Care and Connection programs and services create supportive relationships and safe environments that can improve outcomes for refugee children and their families.

Acquiring language skills is incredibly important aspect of integration. Without language skills, it can be incredibly difficult for a newcomer to integrate, obtain employment, and avoid becoming socially isolated. For Syrian refugees, these problems have been more pronounced for women, due in part to the lack of language courses that also include child-minding. Ms. Eman Allhalaq, a Syrian refugee who appeared at committee spoke to the difficulties in getting a language course spot that also had childcare services, and acknowledged that sometimes she has to miss classes because of the lack of childcare.

“Yes, we waited for three months to have child care services. Finally, we took some steps ourselves. For example, I go in the evening and my husband goes in the afternoon. We try to work it out between ourselves, but my husband is diabetic and he can’t watch my daughter all the time.”[x]

For Mr. Amer Alhendawi and his family, no one in his family was able to get into language training courses after nearly a year in Canada. While at first both he and his wife were on waitlists, he was informed that she shouldn’t bother, as just one of them getting in was ‘good enough’. “No, she didn’t get a chance to go. Her situation is worse than mine. I try my best to learn English on the streets through my friends or through some acquaintances. She doesn’t have that chance, because she mainly stays at home with the kids.”[xi]

Language training courses need to available for newcomers to Canada. Without them, refugees are going to have an even more difficult time adjusting to their new lives.

In addition to LINC funding cuts by the previous federal government, the current federal government’s allocation of Syrian refugee funding to organizations being limited to only organizations that have previously received IRCC funding has limited the ability for other organizations with the capacity to provide services from doing so. The committee heard from volunteers and organizations that were not receiving funding, but doing valuable work for Syrian refugees that could be expanded, should they be eligible to receive funding. Mr. Nouri Al Hassani of Child Aid International, himself a refugee success story, spoke to the volunteer work he and his organization provided for Syrians arriving in Canada.  He noted that his organization was ineligible for government funding. “The short answer is no, we don’t have any access. We don’t receive any funding from the government, neither I nor Child Aid nor other organizations that I’m working with.”[xii]

Many of the organizations that were excluded from access to government funding are organizations that while new, nonetheless have a strong track record for providing excellent programs to community members.  Many of the organizations are formed by former refugees who have personally travelled the journey, speak the language and understand the culture.  By excluding them from accessing government funding, the government missed the opportunity to fully galvanize the incredible capacity that community organizations have offer.

Recommendation 4:

That, the federal government acts to restore resettlement services funding to levels prior to 2010 and adjusted for inflation.

Recommendation 5:

That, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) enhances program delivery by funding more adaptable language class programs. Increased funding should be given to programs which also have childcare/child-minding services, offer informal conversation groups, and programs which provide resettlement help within the context of language skill building.

Recommendation 6:

That, IRCC opens funding eligibility up to organizations that have not received funding in the past, and for funding decisions to be made based on service need and merit, in order to increase capacity and service provision within the settlement community.

Access to health:

Refugees, especially in the case of many Syrian refugees have been victims of violence, have been without adequate medical care for some time, and could be dealing with a number of health issues. Refugees arriving in Canada receive healthcare benefits through the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP). This programs provided limited, temporary benefits. Representatives from the Canadian Dental Association (CDA) appeared before the committee and explained how insufficient and onerous on service providers the IFHP is.

“That coverage does not always align with the generally accepted standards for care. For instance, large fillings are covered, but stainless steel crowns, which are roughly the same cost, are not. Stainless steel crowns are the standard of care for restoring two or more surfaces on baby teeth in high-risk children.”[xiii]

Mr. Randall Croutze of the CDA went on to explain that as a result, many dentists across the country are providing pro-bono work to bridge the care gap, and later stressed just how serious these issues were

“The situations were face are life and death. These people are coming with incredible loads of disease – things we don’t see in Canada – because of poor nutrition, the poor preventative care they’ve had. They’ve had no fluoridated water. They have rampant cavities that infect nerves and cause abscesses in the tissues around… These are people who, if we don’t treat them, are going to end up in the hospital. People die of dental infection. We don’t realize that in this country, but in the countries these people come from, it’s a common enough occurrence. Absolutely we can’t let these people exit our offices without providing them treatment.”[xiv]

It was explained for the dental coverage, the IFHP provided similar coverage as provincial plans for low-income people and those on social assistance. As Mr. Croutze highlighted, the dramatic differences between these populations’ means this coverage is simply inadequate.

 Even when healthcare is accessible, language barriers can result in both delays in treatment, and interactions with the system that can only be deemed as inappropriate and insensitive. Ms. Allhalaq explained the situation she encountered while attempting to receive a medical diagnosis that she would eventually find out meant she had breast cancer.

“Well, the first week I want, I had no interpreter. The second week I was called to go and get the result and again I went and there was interpreter to advise me of the result. There was somebody else from Iraq who was there and I said I could not understand, so that person volunteered to help me. But I needed to have someone with me while I was receiving this kind of news because it was so traumatic. Again, I was given a ride home. Then I went to the hospital the following day, and for two hours I had lost consciousness.”[xv]

No person should be in a position where they receive a cancer diagnosis, already delayed multiple weeks, from a random stranger.

Recommendation 7:

That, the federal government works to improve immediate access to basic dental care for refugees covered by the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP), to ensure payment for practitioners serving refugees are accelerated, that pre-authorizing routine dental work is no longer required, and that services covered by the IFHP match general standard of care.

Recommendation 8:

That, the federal government examines the need and most appropriate response for providing translation and interpretation services for refugees to Canada while engaging with the healthcare system.

Inadequate Information Provided to Both Sponsors and Refugees:

Resettlement agencies, SAHs and other community groups also made it clear that the federal government needs to better communicate to individuals involved in resettlement efforts. SAHs expressed extreme frustration around not knowing when they could expect their sponsored families to arrive.  Mr. Berman explained that,

“We are all ready to receive these refugee families; everything is in place. We have made donations in good faith, believing that the donations would help to resettle refugees soon, and now the money is sitting idle. We have also been receiving conflicting information from our inquired about the status of our families.”[xvi]

This frustration was magnified when the government abruptly slowed down the arrival of refugees after reaching their target of 25,000. Sponsors were not well informed of this, and as a result some sponsors felt like they were wasting money paying rent for empty homes and not knowing when they would finally be occupied by their sponsored family. The Hon. Peter Kent spoke to those frustrations,

“However, the abrupt deceleration of refugee processing after February 29 caused new frustrations for SAHs and private sponsors. Many millions of dollars are now sitting idle in SAH escrow accounts. Substantial financial losses have been incurred by some sponsors who leased accommodations – at the government’s urging – for refugees who, they are now told, might not arrive until next year.”[xvii]

As Minister McCallum has jokingly noted on several occasions that he found himself in a unique position in that Canadians were frustrated with not enough refugees arriving to match the outpouring of support from the Canadian public. It is undeniable that Canadians stepped up in a wonderful way to help people fleeing from violence, and wanted to give them a chance to rebuild their lives in the safety of Canada. However, the government cannot take this goodwill for granted. Poor communication leading to frustration can quickly diminish enthusiasm to get involved.

Many witnesses appearing before the committee recommended that the private sponsorship numbers be increased, with some suggesting the quota on PSRs be eliminated. Immigration lawyer Ms. Chantal Desloges explained,

“I would add that the quota system you’ve heard so much about this morning really needs to be revised. The sponsorship agreement holders are very frustrated with the way that the quotas are being managed. I’m hearing from a number of different SAHs that the system needs to be more predictable and more transparent.” She went on to describe why this was, stating, “Volunteer enthusiasm is not something you can turn on and turn off like a faucet; it’s something that has to be managed over a period of time. The advantage we have right now is that there is unprecedented public enthusiasm over refugee sponsorship. Why would we want to squash that by telling them year after year that we don’t know how many people you’re going to be able to bring, that one year it’s going to be high and one year it’s going to be low and nobody can properly prepare?”[xviii] 

As Ms. Desloges makes clear, individuals going above and beyond to get involved with refugee resettlement deserve accurate, timely information about the programs they are involved in. This includes producing timelines that bolster their enthusiasm, not stifle it.

Recommendation 9:

That, the federal government address the communication breakdown that occurred with the general public, and most importantly organizations and individuals involved in refugee sponsorship and resettlement with aims to ensuring the timeliness and accuracy of program changes and timelines, among others.

Recommendation 10:

That, based on recommendations from witnesses, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada examine increasing the target for privately sponsored refugees from 17,800 in the Immigration Levels Plan for 2017 and 2018.

Conclusion:

The Canadian government and the Canadian people have ambitiously intervened into a humanitarian crisis to provide refuge to innocent people caught up in a violent civil war. This is to be commended. However, the job is not finished once Syrian, or any other, refugee reaches Canada. Commitments have been made to resettle refugees and provide them with the services and supports required for them to rebuild their lives here, and contribute to Canadian society. If this second stage of the process is not adequately addressed, refugees will find getting back on their feet even more difficult than it is at the best of times.

It was the job of this committee to identify gaps in service provision and make recommendations to improve the system for all refugees that arrive in Canada. It is the opinion of New Democrats that the committee has failed to adequately do this in their report, opting instead to focus on a feel good narrative. Canadians should feel good about what we have achieved, but the government should not be downplay to the problems within the system that make integration and resettlement even more difficult than it needs to be.

The recommendations contained within this dissenting report, if followed, would greatly improve the resettlement process for refugees in Canada. As we saw at committee and have seen in numerous media reports speaking with Syrian refugees, they are thankful to be here and they want to contribute back to country that has given them the opportunity to rebuild. It is our duty to provide them with the ability to rebuild their lives and reach their full potential here.