A Letter to the Honourable Chris Alexander, P.C., M.P.

The Honourable Chris Alexander, P.C., M.P.

Minister of Citizenship and Immigration

The House of Commons

Ottawa, Ontario

K1A 0A6

December 10, 2013

Minister Alexander:

Today, as a community with an extensive history with refugee sponsorship, we join in remembering Human Rights Day and in celebrating the dignity and rights of migrants and refugees. These are God’s children and our neighbours and friends. We honour the important contributions that migrants bring to our collective lives in Canada. And we honour Canada’s heritage as a place of welcome for vulnerable migrants.

Continuity with Canada’s reputation as a place of welcome is important in a time of shocking displacement and human rights abuses the world over. However, we are concerned that current policy trends in Canada hinder the welcome of refugees. Diminishing refugee settlement rates; demanding new claim and appeal procedures; inflexibilities rising from the ‘safe country’ designation; and basic refugee health care cuts all deepen the vulnerabilities of

refugees.

Minister Alexander, we understand the need for a refugee determination and appeals system that delivers timely and fair decisions, with attention to cost efficiency and the security of Canada. These benchmarks could, we believe, be framed by overarching ethics of hospitality and compassion for vulnerable people. We know that the policy concerns raised above have been the subject of heated debate and rhetoric on all sides. In the interests of hospitality, compassion, dignity and rights we encourage you to work with the refugee support community, the medical community and other parts of civil society for a constructive dialogue on the critical issues in the refugee system. Open dialogue between Parliamentarians, civil society, the department and refugees themselves will renew Canada’s leadership role in protecting and welcoming refugees.