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Canada Must Act Faster to Save Refugee Lives, Says MP

Jenny Kwan says trusting UN agencies to vet refugees would help get threatened people to safety.

Jeremy Nuttall 20 Jul 2016TheTyee.ca

Jeremy J. Nuttall is The Tyee's reader-funder Parliament Hill reporter in Ottawa. Find his previous stories here. Support his work here.

As a parliamentary committee hears ways Canada can provide a safe haven for people facing the threat of death, a Vancouver MP says the government should take immediate action to help would-be refugees get here.

NDP immigration critic and Vancouver East MP Jenny Kwan said Canada can act now to help those whose lives are in danger, like the Yazidi population in Iraq and Syria facing mass slaughter at the hands of Islamic militants.

“We must make every effort that we can to provide assistance,” said Kwan, who is one of the vice-chairs of the committee. “I'm really hoping that there will be action, immediate action, with short-term measures.”

She said any initiatives should be followed up with long-term action.

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration wraps up a three-day “intensive study” of how Canada can use immigration to get people in conflict zones to safety in Ottawa today.

The committee heard from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as well as those who have been subject to the horrors of persecution abroad in an effort to find out what Canada can do to get people in danger to safety.

On Monday, the global anti-poverty group Oxfam released an analysis that found the world's six wealthiest countries only host nine per cent of refugees.

“Over 65 million people have fled their homes because of conflict, persecution and violence; the highest level since records began,” said the organization. “A third of these are refugees and asylum seekers, while the majority have been internally displaced.” Canada was not among the six wealthiest nations.

The parliamentary committee is holding hearings on how immigration can protect vulnerable groups, particularly the Yazidi population and the Sikh population in Afghanistan.

Since November, Canada has taken in 29,000 refugees from Syria. But nations like Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Germany have collectively accepted millions.

Kwan said the government could provide a safe haven for more people by trusting the UNHCR to vet would-be asylum-seekers in areas too dangerous for Canada to send immigration staff.

The commission goes through camps tent by tent searching for vulnerable people to refer to countries like Canada for refugee status.

But Canada won't accept the refugees until they have been interviewed by government employees. And it won't send staff to the most dangerous regions to process claimants.

Kwan said the government should accept the UNHCR designation and get people out of life-threatening situations.

“Other countries have accepted this and adopted that and it's working for them,” Kwan said. “It's been proven in other jurisdictions. So why can't we then learn from the international community on what they're doing and what is working to overcome these challenges?”

Kwan also said Canada needs to do a better job of providing sanctuary for threatened members of LGBTI communities. They should be designated as a group eligible for refugee status if they are from countries where being homosexual is illegal, she said.

That would make it easier and faster to get LGBTI people out of countries where they are in danger, she said.

Kwan said the committee has also heard there are problems getting food, clothing, medicine and other items into refugee camps and Canada needs to address that issue.  [Tyee]

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