ottawa –
The federal government’s decision to suspend private refugee sponsorship applications from community organizations and groups of five or more people caught aid groups by surprise.
Laurent Lallemand, co-executive director of the Refugee Council of Canada, said the organization met with Immigration Minister Mark Millar and federal officials during a conference held from Nov. 26 to 28, but that the application was temporarily closed. He said the idea of stopping it was not discussed.
“This news came as a big surprise to us. It was not something the minister had informed us he was considering,” Lallemand said.
“We truly feel this is a betrayal of the protection needs that many people overseas are experiencing, especially their families in Canada who are hoping to bring them here.”
Officials from Mr. Miller’s office said that interested parties, including the Canadian Refugee Council, were informed of the suspension before the notice of suspension was released on Friday, but that the notice was issued long before the announcement was released. He admitted that no evocation had taken place. I made it.
The government says the measures are aimed at clearing a backlog of around 250,000 asylum applications at the end of September.
Immigration authorities say more than 90,000 of these are through private sponsorship programs. The government says around 80% of applications completed in the past six months were processed within 40 months of the initial application.
Applications submitted before the suspension was officially decided on Friday will continue to be processed.
Under new immigration levels plans for 2025-2027, the government plans to take in around 58,000 refugees next year, including 23,000 from privately sponsored applications. The goal is to accept approximately 66,000 privately funded refugees by the end of 2027.
The suspension does not affect sponsorship contract holders, many of which are cultural and religious organizations such as the Mennonite Central Committee, which receives about 400 permits a year.
Brian Dyck, National Migration and Resettlement Coordinator for the Mennonite Central Committee, said that unlike private sponsorship applications, the government has full control over the number of visas issued to sponsorship contract holders. . “We wrote to the Minister in early November stating that, given this backlog, we believe it is important to increase the number of privately funded permanent refugee admissions,” Dyck said. Ta.
“Our hope was that they would increase the number of landings. They didn’t do that. So this was essentially another option to put a cap on the number of applications.”
The Refugee Council of Canada also called for a one-year “increase” in visa issuance to better clear the backlog.
“We feel this is a much fairer and more reasonable request than penalizing people who try to bring refugees to Canada simply because the government is not managing case numbers properly. ,” Lallemand said.
Lallemand added that the lack of advance notice was “heartbreaking” given the impending suspension, which could take months to finalize private refugee sponsorship applications. He pointed out that there is.
“To find out overnight that your ability to submit an application has been taken away just shows a very shocking level of callousness,” Lallemand said.
The United Nations refugee agency estimates that more than 117 million people have been forcibly displaced worldwide. They say this number has increased every year for the past 12 years.
Given this growing need, Dyke said Canada must continue to act as a world leader in supporting refugees.
“Resettlement to a country like Canada is not the only solution, even if it’s only part of the solution, it’s a solution and we need to be a part of this.” Mr. Dyke said.
“We are leaders in this field, so I think it’s important that we continue to create space for refugees coming to Canada.”
The government acknowledged that the suspension would impact refugee aid organizations and said it would work with partner agencies towards long-term improvements to private refugee sponsorship programs.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 2, 2024.
