Legislative Review, New Directions and Refugee Resettlement

Abstract

On the surface the proposals surrounding refugee resettlement in the 1999 "white paper" Building on a Strong Foundation for the 21st Century: New Directions for Immigration and Refugee Policy and Legislation appear to be watered down versions of Legislative Review Advisory Group (LRAG) 1998 report Not Just Numbers: A Canadian Framework for Future Immigration proposals. However, the "white paper" proposals are the "tip of the iceberg" of a series of recommendations Citizenship and Immigratiotn Canada (CIC) has developed on how Canada should resettle refugees in the future. This paper outlines and compares the LRAG report, the "white paper" and CIC's model for future resetlement. It argues that the proposals offer an opportunity to diminish long-standing barriers to the Canadian resettlement program, though the motivation for these changes may be partially based on very practical operational needs. Yet in order to ensure such change takes place, NGOs will have to continue to pressure CIC and the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration that Canada's resettlement program be truly humanitarian and that the number of refugees resettled each year not be reduced.