Refugee Issues

February, 2008

Host: Alison
Attendees: Amy, Brenda, Clemence, Katherine, Kirsty, Lisa

Discussion: Alison presented some facts and figures about refugees around the world and Canada's role in resettlement.

Action: Two letters to Immigration Minister Diane Finley (see below).


The Honourable Diane Finley, P.C., M.P.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Email: Minister@cic.gc.ca

Dear Minister Finley:

We are writing to strongly encourage you to increase the numbers of Government Assisted Refugees accepted by Canada each year.

As a diverse group of Vancouver women interested in humanitarian issues, we recently reviewed a report by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees that details the numbers of refugees accepted for resettlement around the world each year. While we were pleased to see that Canada ranks high among developed countries in terms of the number of refugees it accepts for resettlement each year, Canada's contribution seems very small when compared to the number of refugees in need of resettlement worldwide.

According to the report, in 2006, almost 10 million refugees worldwide were seeking to return to their countries or to be resettled in a safe third country. In this same year, Canada accepted just 10,700 refugees for resettlement. We understand that developing nations such as Pakistan, Syria, Kenya, etc. currently shoulder a much more significant responsibility in hosting millions of refugees as they wait to return home or be resettled.

We feel strongly that a nation as rich as Canada should play a much more important role in resettling refugees and in encouraging other developed countries to do the same. The current crises in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other nations highlights the need for countries such as ours to be much more proactive in assisting people displaced by these conflicts.

We strongly urge you to increase the targets you set for Government Assisted Refugees in your future annual immigration level plans. We would appreciate receiving your views on this matter.