 
KAIROS Presentation to the Standing Committee on
Citizenship and Immigration
Topic: Family Reunification
April 13, 2005 - Toronto
KAIROS, the social justice organization of eleven Canadian churches
and church agencies, works for human rights and economic justice
in Canada and around the globe. The KAIROS Refugee and Migration
Program draws upon the extensive experience of Canadian churches
in private sponsorship of refugees, settlement assistance for refugee
claimants and service provision to live-in-caregivers and seasonal
agricultural workers.
We thank the Standing Committee for this opportunity to express
our concerns on the topic of family reunification – concerns
grounded in the day-to-day experience of working with newcomer families
across the country. Specifically, we are concerned about delays
and obstacles to family reunification for three groups of newcomers:
privately sponsored refugees, asylum seekers granted refugee status
in Canada, and migrant workers.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Standing
Committee for their unanimous resolution calling for implementation
of the Refugee Appeal Division. We urge you to continue to press
the government for implementation of the appeal.
General principles
KAIROS believes that family reunification is in the best interests
not only of newcomers but of Canadian society as a whole. Canada
needs people. With our aging population and low birthrate, we need
newcomers to help sustain our economy and support valued social
programs, to give dynamism to our multicultural society and to strengthen
our ties to the international community. Newcomers have much to
contribute to Canada. However, they need their family members with
them to be successful.
Current delays in reunification prolong grave risks for family
members overseas - risks occasioned by war, persecution and crushing
poverty. Worries for the safety and well-being of those left behind
make it difficult for newcomers to put down roots and begin to contribute
to Canadian society. Living conditions abroad jeopardize the health
and education of separated family members, leading to increased
social costs when they finally come to Canada.
For all these reasons, KAIROS urges the Canadian government to
take concrete action to remove costly delays and obstacles to refugee
and migrant family reunification. Nuclear refugee families should
be reunited on a basis of highest priority, without extra fees imposed,
and regardless of the physical current location of such persons.
The same principle applies to families who have de facto members,
such as dependent parents or close family members who have habitually
resided with or alongside the principal applicants. Migrant workers
who fill key labor gaps in our economy should have the same rights
to family reunification as any other class of immigrant.
1. Privately sponsored refugees
The Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program is under serious strain
because of the long delays in processing applications and the high
refusal rates. These delays and refusals have a serious impact on
family reunification, because for many refugees here in Canada,
the private sponsorship program is their only option for bringing
family members from overseas. They also undermine the goodwill of
sponsors, who can contribute as much as $30 000 and hundreds of
hours of volunteer time to a single sponsorship.
Canada’s nuclear definition of the family is not one shared
by many refugees, who seek reunification with an extended family.
Refugees soon discover that the Canadian immigration system creates
enormous obstacles to that reunification. They find themselves separated
from siblings and other significant family members by IRPA regulations,
and restricted in their ability to sponsor dependent parents due
to income requirements. With nowhere else to turn, they come to
the churches requesting private sponsorship for loved ones overseas.
To limit a refugee family’s ability to be reunited to a private
refugee sponsorship application does a disservice to the family,
the private sponsors and the overseas post:
A. The family: There are not enough churches able to respond
to the family reunification needs of newcomers. Churches are inundated
with requests for help from desperate families.
B. The private sponsor: Church groups are tied up for years in
a sponsorship process for people who may no longer be considered
refugees at the time of the interview. Frustration with this process
makes them much less likely to consider any form of refugee sponsorship
in the future – including sponsorship of needy refugees
who have no advocates here in Canada.
C. The overseas post: Immigration staff at under-resourced overseas
posts dedicate hours and expertise to refugee determinations for
applicants with weaker refugee claims who would be more appropriately
routed to an Assisted Relative Class.
Recommendations:
1.1 That the Assisted Relative Class, or an updated version thereof,
be reinstated.
1.2 That new financial and human resources be allocated to overseas
posts to allow them to adequately address the intertwined priorities
of Family Class Reunification and Private Refugee Sponsorship.
1.3 That government work more proactively and cooperatively with
Sponsorship Agreement Holder organizations, in recognition of their
enormous voluntary contribution in supplying a full 30% of Canada’s
total resettlement response.
1.4 That private and government sponsorship streams remain distinct
programs. Proposals suggesting that the two streams could potentially
be integrated into one program fail to recognize that private sponsorship
represents a voluntary, additional contribution by Canadians.
1.5 That local CICs continue to accept, process and provide a liaison
function for private sponsorship applications.
2. Refugees recognized in Canada
Refugees who are recognized by the Immigration and Refugee Board
in Canada experience painfully long delays in reuniting with family
members left behind, often in difficult and dangerous circumstances.
Asylum seekers may have already been separated from family members
for months or years before they arrive in Canada. On average, they
take another year to go through the refugee determination process.
At this point, they can include overseas family members on their
application for permanent residence. However, processing delays
prolong yet again the agony of waiting.
In half of all cases, refugees have to wait more than 13 months
for their family members to be processed. One in five refugees has
to wait more than 26 months. Processing times are particularly slow
in Africa. Refugee serving organizations identify a series of causal
factors: shortage of visa office resources to process applications,
inappropriate requests for expensive and intrusive DNA testing to
establish family relationship, and delay-induced expiration of security
and/or medical clearances, which then have to be redone.
A further obstacle to family reunification has to do with processing
fees. Refugees must pay $550 for each adult that they include on
their application for permanent residence, plus an additional $150
for every child. This represents a serious hardship for refugees,
who are just beginning to establish themselves in Canada after having
lost everything in their home countries. They find themselves obliged
to start again from zero – learning English, looking for work,
and struggling to have credentials recognized. Under such circumstances,
it is extremely difficult to save the money required for processing
fees, especially in the case of large families. Many refugees incur
large debts, which further hampers their ability to make a new start
in Canada.
Recommendations:
2.1 That spouses and children of people recognized as refugees
in Canada be
brought to Canada immediately, to be processed here.
2.2 That the processing fees associated with permanent residence
applications be
waived for refugee families.
2.3 That families who can demonstrate the economic advantages
of having parents
or grandparents with them in Canada be exempt from LICO (low income
cut
off) when making Family Class applications.
3. Migrants
Migrant workers with only temporary status in Canada have no opportunity
at all to be reunited with their family members abroad. Under the
Seasonal Agricultural Program, Mexican and Caribbean laborers spend
up to eight months a year in Canada. Some workers come year after
year, for up to twenty years, spending more than half of their working
life thousands of miles away from their families. For months at
a time, whole communities in Mexico are emptied of their male residents,
leaving only women and children behind.
Under the Live-in Caregiver Program, Filipino caregivers and women
from other countries leave their own children behind to come and
care for Canadian children. Foreign domestic workers are required
to complete two years of live-in employment over a three-year period
before they can even apply for landing status and begin the process
of reuniting with family members. Organizations such as the Philippine
Migrants Society of Canada report that live-in caregivers routinely
wait five to seven years to be reunited with their families, with
serious consequences for family ties and the ability of separated
family members to adapt once they finally arrive in Canada.
In Canada, we presently have a two tiered immigration system where
people with higher education, professional skills and money have
access to permanent status and family reunification from the outset,
while those working in the most undesirable and underpaid sectors
of the economy do not. Far from working to address these inequities,
Canada appears to be moving in the direction of expanding temporary
worker programs to other industries, such as the construction and
hospitality industries. Meanwhile, Canada has yet to affirm its
commitment to protecting migrant rights by signing the Convention
on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and their
Families.
Recommendations:
3.1 That the immigration points system be revised to genuinely
reflect Canadian
labor needs, including needs for caregivers, agricultural workers
and others
whose skills are not currently recognized.
3.2 That the above-mentioned workers be granted equal access
to permanent
residence, to the social services accorded to permanent residents,
and to family
reunification, in recognition of their human dignity and their significant
contribution to Canadian society.
3.3 That Provincial Nominee Programs be enhanced to further
improve access for skilled labour, in a manner that allows workers
to gain permanent status and pursue family reunification.
3.4 That a nominee program be established for Ontario, currently
the only province without such a program.
3.5 That Canada sign the United Nations Convention on the Protection
of the Rights and Welfare of All Migrant Workers and their Families.
Conclusion
KAIROS urges the Canadian government to take seriously its commitment
to the principle of family reunification, as established in the
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. We note that Canada is signatory
to key international human rights agreements which recognize the
right of the family unit to protection by the state. The Convention
on the Rights of the Child specifically states: “applications
by a child or his or her parents to enter or leave a State Party
for the purpose of family reunification shall be dealt with by States
Parties in a positive, humane and expeditious manner.”
In its 1995 and 2003 reviews of Canada, the UN Committee on the
Rights of the Child expressed concerns at the long delays in refugee
family reunification. Migrants also face significant delays and
obstacles to family reunification, but without the advantage of
international oversight since Canada has yet to sign the Convention
on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and their
Families.
We trust that the recommendations set forth in this brief contribute
to efforts to strengthen Canada’s practical commitment to
family reunification.
Respectfully submitted by
KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives
April 2005
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