Refugee plans at risk, bishops say
Group urges government to speed up resettlement of Syrian families to Canada
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has sent an open letter to the Liberal government urging it to fulfil its promise and expedite the resettlement of sponsored Syrian refugees to Canada.
“Processing delays have already resulted in significant financial losses for sponsoring groups,” said the letter from the conference’s president, Bishop Douglas Crosby, to Immigration Minister John McCallum.
“Such delays are affecting the viability of pending sponsorship applications, many of which have now been put in jeopardy due to the additional cost associated with maintaining vacant accommodation.”
While community Syrian sponsorship groups have complained about the slow processing and a lack of transparency and communication, few faith groups have taken their concerns to Ottawa in an open letter.
In an interview, Crosby said the letter was not a criticism of the government’s humanitarian effort but a plea that expressed the concerns and frustrations of many sponsoring groups out there.
“There was a lot of initial excitement and enthusiasm but all of a sudden, everything changed and there is now a lot of confusion of the date of these families’ arrivals,” said Crosby of the diocese of Hamilton, where seven of its parishes are still waiting for their sponsored families to arrive after a year.
“Groups rent an apartment, but nothing happens and no one comes. The cost is eating into their charitable funds. There was wonderful energy but it has been lost. People are disappointed and discouraged.”
In one parish, said Crosby, a sponsorship group was initially told the Syrian family would arrive before February but didn’t make it to Canada until June, draining the money raised for the family’s settlement on an unoccupied apartment secured for their arrival.
Ottawa stopped prioritizing Syrian sponsorship applications in February after it reached its target of bringing in 25,000 refugees. But amid a public uproar, it extended the application deadline until end of March.
This summer, as the frustration among sponsorship groups over the slow processing escalated, McCallum dispatched additional staff to the Middle East for a month to speed up the processing.
According to government data obtained by Canada for Refugees, a grassroots organization representing private sponsorship groups, fewer than one-third or about 3,100 of the 13,500 Syrian refugees whose sponsorship applications were submitted by the end of March have arrived in Canada.
Another 900 refugees have been screened but refused; 5,400 are still being processed and 4,100 are awaiting transportation and travel documents, said Douglas Earl, a Canada for Refugees spokesperson.
The Catholic bishops conference is critical of the government at a time when Canada is selling the private sponsorship program overseas.
“We agree with everything said in their letter,” said Earl. “There is a political price to be paid for this delay in bringing our sponsored refugees here.”
Earlier this summer, McCallum set an early 2017 deadline to bring in all the Syrian refugees whose applications were filed by March 31.
Over the past four weeks, said Earl, the number of weekly arrivals has almost doubled from 200 to 400, a level that has to be sustained to meet the deadline.
“Delayed arrivals and the lack of clear and transparent communication about the status of pending cases pose the risk of undermining the faith of Canadians in the government’s ability to follow through on its promises,” said Crosby.
“These realities also represent potential to undermine the government’s ability to meet future immigration levels plans, as interest and confidence in the sponsorship program will continue to dissolve and wane as poor outcomes continue to manifest.”