A proposal by Naomi Alboim, Howard Adelman and Mike Molloy

OCASI Summit October 29, 2014

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November and January Workshops at the Centre for Refugee Studies on the Private Sponsorship Program connected to the Indochinese Refugee Movement

Decision to produce a paper to build on workshop discussions regarding lessons learned and applicability going forward

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Recommend new directions for Canada’s refugee resettlement program

Stimulate discussion to test ideas

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Facilitate family reunification for refugees in Canada

Expand Private Sponsorship

Improve quality of support for GARS

Enhance refugee labour market integration

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Resettlement opportunities are a rare commodity

According to UNHCR:

690,915 refugees need resettlement

2014 referred caseload – 94,113 ( excludes Syrians)

Resettlement country capacity – 80,0000

2013 Top three (HCR monitored departures)

USA 47,870

Australia 11,117

Canada 5,140

Growing need for resettlement of Syrians

Canada has not yet responded to UNHCR call for 100,000 places

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Created by the 1976 Act & 1978 Regulations to increase Canada’s resettlement

capacity

Fundamentals:

Additionality

Named refugees

Freedom of choice

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Indochinese Refugee Crisis:

June 1979: government requests sponsorship for 21,000 refugees

December 1980: 39,000 refugees sponsored by civil society, vast majority assigned by matching centre

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Canada’s refugee resettlement program changed to “most in need” rather than “ability to settle”

Closer alignment with UNHCR resettlement priorities

Harder cases with greater needs on arrival

Violence/torture survivors

Women/girls at risk

Legal/physical protection needs

Health concerns

Protracted refugee situations without alternative durable solutions

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No avenue for refugees accepted by Canada to reunite with parents, siblings or other relatives (Cancelation of Assisted Relative refugee category)

Reuniting refugee families should be a societal priority

Private sponsors responded to demand – primary focus on family reunification

Relatives bear much of the cost and effort of resettling PSRs

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As the relatives already assume much of the responsibility and

Reunited refugee families achieve superior settlement outcomes

Should Canada

Create a refugee family reunification category for family members who need protection?

Create a privately funded guarantee scheme to backstop refugees applying for their family members? (Winnipeg and ISIS Nova Scotia Prototypes)

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Would it be possible or desirable to reorient more sponsors towards UNHCR identified cases (ie. Blended/ Visa Office Referrals: B/VORs) if refugee family reunification was facilitated through a government category/program?

Critical to maintain fundamentals:

Additionality not replacing government assisted refugees

Allowing for continuation of named refugees

Allowing for freedom of choice

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Can we expand the sponsorship community beyond faith and ethnic communities?

Possibility of re-introducing matching formula to increase number of refugees?

Should we create a new national charitable organization to complement the work of SAHs to raise awareness and broaden participation within Canadian society, experiment with social media as a recruitment /funding tool and perhaps administer the fund to backstop refugee family reunification?

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Continued humanitarian focus on UNHCR identified cases, protracted refugee situations etc. should be continued

Failure to meet GAR targets in recent years is worrisome and needs to be addressed

Capability of RAP organizations settling GARs is impressive but funding has not kept up with needs

Would settlement outcomes be improved for GARs if something like the Host/Community Connections program was renewed to support the work of RAP workers and broaden the social circle of newly arrived GARs?

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Refugees span a continuum of complexity, health/social/linguistic needs and skill levels

While rescue and protection needs must be primary selection criteria, all refugees eventually need jobs

Can language and labour market orientation training begin before the refugees arrive? (adapt CIIP, IOM models)

Can employers who currently rely on Temporary Foreign Workers to fill ongoing jobs be encouraged to cooperate with sponsors, government and community agencies to hire refugees instead?

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Over 300,000 TFWs in Canada; more than 20,000 in low skilled occupations

Indicates there are permanent jobs that could go to refugees

Changes to the TFW Program, particularly related to low-skilled jobs, offer opportunities to work with employers

Benefits to substituting refugees (permanent residents ) for TFWs for refugees, sponsors, employers, communities

What supports to employers and refugees would be necessary to ensure success? What role can sponsors and settlement agencies play?

Opportunity to test models in pilots?

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Paper circulated to key stakeholders: positive feedback (Tokyo UNHCR)

Presentations at National Metropolis Conference, CCR, SAHA, Maytree

Multi-stakeholder meetings Halifax ISIS May 28

Calgary CCIS June 3

CIC, ESDC, and provincial reps attended meetings

Tourism, Food Processing, and Agriculture Sector Councils consulted and participated in meetings

Senior Provincial reps in Nova Scotia and Alberta briefed

CIC and ESDC senior officials briefed

CCIS Calgary and ISIS Halifax interested in anchoring pilot projects

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Rural areas, small towns losing population: interest in attracting/retaining new population

SAHs: dedicated but frustrated: delays, red tape, central processing, quotas

Settlement agencies: multi-skilled, well led, deeply embedded in communities, respected by employers

TFW Program: controversial, expensive and time consuming for employers. Communities want permanent residents

Employers: willing to be involved in pilots with refugees and cooperate with settlement agencies but referral mechanism must be simple, effective

Pilot Projects: have resource implications and will need government support but must be designed locally. One size will not fit all.

Substantial potential in tourism, agricultural and food processing sectors.

Employers and refugees would need some support to ensure success.

Settlement/RAP agencies have capacity and credibility to organize support

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Identify and fund capable RAP/Settlement organization to design, implement, coordinate and evaluate

Target community(s) with sustained requirement for workers (eg. agriculture, tourism, food processing) and seeking to off set population loss

Create coalition: Employers, Fed/ Prov/ Local Govt, Civil society, Sponsoring entity (existing or to be created with SAH support).

Employer identification of jobs and required skills

Community support obtained for refugee clusters to be settled

Blended VORs reviewed by sponsor groups/settlement agency and selected for settlement in clusters

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Pre-arrival orientation/training

Labour market entry/basic language training by settlement/LINC agency

Cultural training to employer and workforce/trouble shooting by settlement agency

Ongoing support to refugees by sponsors and settlement agency

On-site occupation specific language training by LINC agency

Workplace training by employer perhaps with support from Province or Canadian Jobs Grant

Certificates, promotion and evaluation

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Federal and provincial governments - set broad objectives, fund lead agency to design, implement and evaluate pilot .

RAP/Settlement Lead Agency – overall coordination, needs identification, capacity building , training for employer, community and refugees

Employer – permanent jobs, competitive wages; accommodate orientation for existing staff; accommodate skills and job specific language training on site

CIC – financial support for first six months or until families are self sufficient

Sponsor- reception, accommodation, orientation, financial support for second six months or until families self sufficient. Monitoring and advocacy for refugees

Community – support sponsor, raise public awareness about the refugees, assist integration of refugee families

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Government policy and program framework, BVOR selection and timely processing, program support and funding

Local design and implementation – one size does not fit all

Experienced lead agency to implement in partnership with local partners

Employer- Sponsor – Community partnership

Sufficient flow of refugee clusters and kinship groups to create sustainable communities

Welcoming communities

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CCIS Calgary and ISIS Halifax willing to take lead in developing and delivering pilots

Employers from hospitality, agricultural and food processing sectors in Nova Scotia and southern Alberta are interested ( design, training and hiring)

Provinces are supportive

ESDC willing to entertain proposals

CIC RFP for pre-arrival orientation for refugees

CIC funding for a few projects in West, more possible:

Eg. Calgary: 50 female refugees being trained for the food/restaurant sector in partnership with Subway, Tim Horton's A+W. $400K project over 2 years includes language training, soft skills, food safety.

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Build on labour market integration work underway for refugees already in Canada. Develop more projects.

Implement labour market integration model with clusters of refugees still overseas but destined to Canada

Expand discussions beyond Alberta and Nova Scotia? Manitoba? BC? Ontario?

More overseas language training and employment orientation for refugees in process

Continue to push for refugee family reunification program (start with Syria?)

Explore national refugee family guarantee fund

Explore new national NGO to expand private sponsorship participation by Canadians in partnership with SAH

Encourage more sponsors to focus on UN identified refugees

Improve GAR integration by strengthening RAP

Continue to push for Canada’s increased response to UNHCR request for spaces for Syrians

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