Canadians adopting from Muslim countries caught in legal limbo

Seems a bit odd given that the US and UK permit adoptions from Muslim countries, and CIC’s rationale is not articulated beyond the usual process reasons:

Canada maintains that kafala does not qualify as adoption, arguing that the arrangement does not sever legal ties with a child’s biological parents.

Other Western countries, including the United States and United Kingdom, have policies allowing kafala arrangements to be legally recognized there.

Canada’s position on kafala can leave families who have received guardianship in Muslim countries caught in a bureaucratic web that appears to be unique to Canada, and unable to bring their children home.

Nusrat Munshi obtained legal guardianship of Aleeza just two months after the little girl was abandoned at a Karachi orphanage. (Submitted by Nusrat Munshi)

Citizenship and Immigration Canada spokeswoman Nancy Caron says it is not Canada’s policy to discriminate against any country when it comes to adoption.

“Eligibility of individual countries for inter-country adoption is determined on a case-by-case basis by the provinces and territories based on Canadian laws, and with respect for international laws as well as the statutes and wishes of the originating country.”

However, Amirzadeh says whether it’s an official government policy or not, the red tape effectively discriminates against Muslim families. “It’s like saying, ‘You’re born there, so you’re doomed.'”

And while a formal ban on adoptions from Muslim countries isn’t currently official policy, Canada hasn’t entirely ruled one out.

Documents obtained through access to information show that in 2013, the provinces and territories debated a ban on adoptions not only from Pakistan, but other Muslim countries, too.

At least two provinces, British Columbia and Ontario, refused the proposal, according to the documents.

“At this time, there is no intention of extending this closure to inter-country adoptions from other countries, although this does not limit such actions being taken in the future if determined to be warranted,” Citizenship and Immigration Canada wrote then.

Michael Blugerman, a Toronto-based adoption agent who was licensed to process adoptions from Pakistan for years until the 2013 ban, says while the government needs to make sure adoptions are legitimate, lumping cases from Muslim countries together isn’t the answer.

“It’s what I’d call a cultural-religious-profiling problem,” he says.

Meanwhile, Canada and Pakistan differ over the reasons for the adoption ban.

Citizenship and Immigration spokesperson Remi Lariviere says that adoptions from Pakistan were suspended through “ongoing procedural evaluations by the Government of Canada with input from the Government of Pakistan.”

But it seems Pakistan is not objecting to adoptions.

“It was a decision of the Government of Canada,” says spokesperson Nazia Khalid of Pakistan’s High Commission in Ottawa. “If they decide not to allow adoption, what can the Pakistani government say about it?”

Canadians adopting from Muslim countries caught in legal limbo – Canada – CBC News.