Refugee deadline too ‘optimistic’
The Liberal government’s yearend deadline to rapidly resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees is far too optimistic, says a former senior immigration official involved with the 1999 rapid resettlement to Canada of more than 5,000 Kosovars.
“I understand the desire to do this quickly. But to do it right, determine the steps needed, the time these steps take, the resources involved and then set the time for completion. Doing it the other way around does not make sense and invites trouble,” says Gerard Van Kessel, retired director-general of the refugees branch at Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
Barry Cartwright, a Simon Fraser University criminologist specializing in crime related to immigration and refugee claims, also believes the task is impossible when it comes to proper security screening. “You can’t do criminal and police checks in a region where there are basically no recognized police departments,” he says.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister John McCallum has repeatedly insisted the refugees will be properly screened. He is expected to reveal more details of the plan Tuesday. A draft government document obtained last week by the National Post indicates elaborate plans underway to move the refugees, with several security options under consideration.
In May 1999, then-prime minister Jean Chrétien hastily agreed to an emergency airlift of people from Kosovo after speaking to then-U.S. president Bill Clinton and after the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees called on western countries to help resettle refugees. In all, more than 700,000 fled the 1998-99 Kosovo War to Albania and Macedonia.
Van Kessel says Canadian security concerns in that case focused on war criminals, espionage and criminality.
With Syria, “this is the first time that terrorism has been front and centre. All background (security) issues are of concern because they present a risk to the public, but terrorism presents the broadest and highest level of concern.”
Most of the refugees to come to Canada are expected from Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon. But news that one of the terrorists in Paris entered Europe on a fake Syrian passport is fuelling fresh worries about the ability of security screening to effectively probe the backgrounds of 25,000 people, many undocumented, over the next six weeks.
Van Kessel says rapid processing is possible if enough resources are applied. But, “remember that 25,000 is roughly 10 per cent of the (total) annual intake. This is what all the resources involved in immigrant processing produce in a month, roughly the time between now and the end of the year. “Since not all the resources will be involved, rapid processing — even extending this a few months — without shortcuts is too optimistic.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. House of Representatives, led by Republican lawmakers, defied President Barack Obama last week and approved a bill that would in effect suspend the entry of Syrian and Iraqi refugees into the U.S. for months or years.
Following a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the Philippines for the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit, Obama told reporters the pair discussed several issues including the situation in Syria and counter-terrorism efforts, “given the long shared border we have.” It’s not known whether Obama was linking the Syrian refugee challenge and border security issues.
At least 31 U.S. governors, including the northern border states of Michigan and Maine, have said they will not accept Syrian refugees because of the potential security risk they pose. But immigration is a federal matter and legal experts say states have no authority to refuse.
Maintenance of proper police records in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Afghanistan is almost non-existent, Cartwright says. “Everything resembling a proper police force is probably gone in those areas.”
In addition to the black market in false passports in virtually “stateless areas” of the Middle East, Cartwright says most police forces, governments and political and military factions in the region cannot be trusted. “What are you going to do? Ask Islamic State for a background check? Ask Iraq for a background check?”
Meanwhile, CBC News was reporting Sunday that Canada would limit the refugees it welcomes to women, children and families.
The report, from unnamed sources, says that unaccompanied men would not be eligible for the refugee program due to security concerns.