Immigrant groups ask for more time to settle Syrian refugees

2015/10/29 Leave a comment

Provides political cover for the incoming government to deal with operational realities while still implementing change in policy and accepting more refugees:

A national association of immigrant and refugee service providers is asking prime minister-designate Justin Trudeau to extend the timeline on his pledge to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada to the end of 2016, rather than the end of this year.

Two months is not enough time to adequately support and settle this number of refugees, which would be over and above the thousands of refugees Canada has already committed to taking in, the Canadian Immigrant Settlement Sector Alliance said in a news release Tuesday.

Canada took in more than 7,500 government-assisted refugees in 2014. About 40 per cent of those arrive between September and December, for reasons that range from overseas processing times, flight availability and foreign visa offices rushing to meet annual targets, said CISSA chairman Chris Friesen.

For B.C., Trudeau’s stated target would mean about 2,000 more refugees in the next two months, in addition to the 800-900 the province already receives, Friesen said.

Extending the timeline would still honour the UN refugee agency’s appeal asking countries including Canada to resettle 100,000 Syrians by the end of next year, he added.

The settlement workers also asked the incoming Liberal government to prioritize the reunification of refugees who are already in Canada with their families overseas, eliminate the issuance of interest-bearing transportation loans that refugees must repay within a year of arriving in Canada, and introduce a housing allowance to top up existing resettlement support assistance.

Source: Immigrant groups ask for more time to settle Syrian refugees

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Many older Canadian immigrants live on less than $11,000 per year

2015/03/04 Leave a comment

Some of the challenges facing older refugees:

Immigrants and refugees who come to Canada later in life face unique challenges in terms of income, livelihood and social integration, said Chris Friesen, director of settlement services for the Immigrant Services Society of B.C. The problems are especially acute for seniors who are not from one of the region’s larger ethnocultural communities, such as Chinese, Indian or Filipino, where larger social networks are in place. They represent a small but growing share of immigrants to B.C. and Canada, Friesen said.

“The new and few, we call them.”

On Tuesday, Khaleghi and other immigrant seniors will have the chance to share their stories with key decision-makers and recommend changes to help others like them. The forum, called Moving Forward: Unheard Voices, will include representatives of city governments, health authorities, Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the B.C. Seniors Advocate, among others.

Recent policy changes have made things more difficult for immigrant seniors, who typically come to Canada either as sponsored family members or refugees, Friesen said. Citizenship and Immigration Canada recently increased the amount of time families must commit to financially supporting relatives to 20 years from 10 years, which means that only the wealthiest families are able to be reunited on a permanent basis. On the refugee side, Canada now selects people based on need of protection versus ability to settle.

“All these things are colliding together that impact the livelihood and life and dignity of these folks as they age in Canada,” Friesen said. “What was kind of an eye opener for me is, if you arrive at 65 and you have no financial means, your baseline entitlement is under $11,000 (per year) that you have to live on. On top that, if you’re a refugee, not only is it less than $11,000 but you also have to repay your transportation loan that provided you the opportunity to come to Canada.”

Many older Canadian immigrants live on less than $11,000 per year.

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