Asylum-seekers need Ottawa’s aid, advocates say
New Liberal measures help Hong Kong students enter and stay here
OTTAWA— Justin Trudeau’s government should open the door to pro-democracy activists from Hong Kong the same way it did for Syrian refugees: by allowing private groups of Canadians to sponsor them as refugees here, advocates say.
News that the Canadian government will ease entry for students, graduates and young professionals from Hong Kong, and create pathways for them to remain as permanent residents, was met with tempered praise Thursday, with non-governmental advocates and opposition critics saying more needs to be done for asylum-seekers.
“It’s a really great starting point, but it cannot be the end,” said Alliance Canada Hong Kong spokesperson Cherie Wong. “What we are worried about is that there is no inclusion of asylum-seekers.”
Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino said Canada will expedite study permits, create new three-year work permits in Canada for recent graduates and change refugee policy to ensure no foreign national or Hong Kong refugee claimant is barred entry solely on the basis of a conviction or charge under China’s national security law.
Any failed refugee claimants currently facing deportation to Hong Kong will be automatically entitled to a new pre-removal risk assessment or “another chance to stay in Canada,” said Mendicino.
But the minister stopped short of offering outright refugee protection or easing ways to claim asylum status for pro-democracy activists from Hong Kong, on a week when Ottawa again denounced the oppressive national security law that led to the ouster of the four elected Hong Kong lawmakers from its legislature.
Alliance Canada Hong Kong asked the Liberal government in June to amend the existing blended or private sponsorship programs so Canadians can sponsor Hong Kong residents to seek asylum and resettle here, said Wong. “And it took us six months to get this starting point.”
Several community groups are already “informally” supporting several dozen young adults currently in Canada who want to or have sought refugee status, said Wong. They and pro-democracy activists hoping to come to Canada need immediate help, she said. “One of the immediate things that Canada can do is to qualify all claims coming in from China and Hong Kong as non-complex claims, which will really skip over most of the procedural hearings and meetings.
“We know for a fact there is political persecution in Hong Kong and mainland China, so it shouldn’t be something that we have to discuss every single time,” she said.
Mabel Tung, chair of the Vancouver Society in Support of Democratic Movement, said in an interview her group is supporting “a handful” of people under the age of 35 who fear returning to Hong Kong. Their ranks include university students and graduates, including a youth in his last year of high school. Some were charged with “rioting” or questioned by police in connection with democracy protests last year in Hong Kong, prior to the new security law, and fear going back. The new measures, she said, “help quite a bit for those young people to stay in Canada ... I’m not sure if it is going to help those in Hong Kong in great danger to get out.”
Mendicino condemned the situation in Hong Kong as he made the announcement, saying the Chinese ruling party’s imposition of a sweeping national security law in Hong Kong shows “clear disregard for the basic law” as agreed to under the Britain-China1997 handover agreement, and has “the consequential effect of eroding human rights in Hong Kong.”
“Canada will stand in solidarity with the people of Hong Kong,” said Mendicino.
Asked about the absence of help for asylum-seekers, Mendicino insisted the policy shifts will help because “no foreign national, whether from Hong Kong or anywhere else, will be disqualified from pursuing a legitimate asylum claim or any other immigration route if they have not committed any crime that would be recognized under Canadian law.”
He said the immigration measures are in line with Canada’s economic goals and will allow skilled young professionals in sectors like health care, “tech and innovation” to come to or remain in Canada.
In a statement, NDP critic Jenny Kwan called the Liberals’ response “half-measures with scant details.”
Kwan said the scope of family reunification in the plan is too narrow.
“We won’t even know about the application process until next year and there is little support for everyone else at risk of persecution for their political beliefs under the new national security law,” she said.
“Canada needs to do more than offer Hong Kong’s pro-democracy activists an economic immigration system crippled by years-long backlogs and beset by ongoing delays because of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Conservative immigration critic Rachel Dancho in a written statement.
Just before the announcement, an all-party subcommittee of Canadian MPs urged the government to extend asylum to minority Muslim Uighurs who they say face “genocide” in northwest China.
The minister said the government will review the MPs report and is “gravely concerned” by the situation in Xinjiang province.
On Thursday, China warned its Western critics Hong Kong is none of anyone else’s business.
Hong Kong’s affairs are “purely an internal affair of China, and other countries have no right to make irresponsible remarks and interfere,” Chinese spokesman Wang Wenbin said Thursday.
“We urge those people to abide by international law and the basic norms of international relations and to stop interfering in China’s internal affairs, including Hong Kong affairs, in any way,” he said.
“China will not be pressured and no attempt to undermine China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests will succeed.”