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Thousands tell government:
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A United Nations committee says Canada failed Mexican torture survivor Falcon Rios when it rejected his claim for refugee status here and then refused a judicial review of that decision. The UN Committee Against Torture blamed the failure on Canada’s lack of an effective appeal process for rejected refugees.
KAIROS (the social justice organization of 11 Canadian churches and church agencies) couldn’t agree more. “In Canada, you can appeal a traffic ticket, but you can’t appeal a decision that could send you back to death in the country you fled when you put your trust in us,” says KAIROS executive director Mary Corkery. “Three-year-old revisions to refugee legislation included provisions for an appeal process, but the federal government still refuses to implement those provisions—its own legislation.”
KAIROS has collected more than 10,000 signatures on a petition insisting the government obey its own laws and implement the appeal process it passed in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act of 2002. More signatures are coming in daily.
On Monday, April 4—Refugee Rights Day—Bloc Quebecois MP Meili Faille, vice-chair of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, working jointly with the office of New Democratic Party MP and Standing Committee member Bill Siksay, will present the first batch of those signed petitions to Parliament. This reflects the Standing Committee’s unanimous call, last December, for implementation of the appeal process.
This Refugee Rights Day will also mark the 20th anniversary of the Singh Decision, when the Supreme Court decided that the Canadian Charter of Rights applies to refugee claimants too. It’s time for Canada to honour the right to a full and fair hearing. It’s time to implement the appeal process.
For more information contact:
-John Bird at 877-403-8933, ext. 223. Email:
jbird
-Tanya Chute Molina at 877-403-8933, ext. 252. Email: tchute
tchute
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