Summary
Recommendations
Full text of brief (pdf file 22 kb)

Summary

Toronto is Canada's primary reception centre for immigrants and refugees. The City of Toronto's motto is "Diversity our Strength". Immigration brings social, cultural and economic benefits to the municipality. But the City is faced with a number of challenges in responding to immigration: lack of direct consultation and collaboration regarding immigration by the federal government; downloading of financial responsibilities for government-delivered services by the Province of Ontario; shortage of affordable housing; inadequate public transit; growth in poverty among racial minority groups; systemic barriers to accessing trades and professions; and the media's negative stereotyping of racial minorities.

Toronto City Council commends Citizenship and Immigration Canada for having responded positively to some of the recommendations of stakeholders and including these changes in Bill C-11:

• Inclusion of some key principles and policy issues, such as the protection of equality rights in the legislation
• Definition of permanent residents which distinguishes them from foreign nationals, and provision of an oral hearing to permanent residents in the case of appeals on the loss of permanent resident status
• Access to the refugee determination system for refugee claimants convicted of political protest and dissent
• Provision of criteria for detention decisions in new regulations and establishment of principle that the detention of minor children is a last resort

Toronto City Council welcomes and supports the positive proposals in Bill C-11 to provide for:

• Separate sections and objectives for immigrants and refugees
• Facilitation of the immigration of economic class immigrants and entry of skilled workers
• Expansion of family class immigrants and facilitation of family reunification
• Incorporation of the principle of the "best interests of the child"
• A faster and more efficient refugee determination system.

Council also has the following concerns:

• The Bill does not address the need for the Government of Canada to directly consult and collaborate with municipalities that receive large numbers of immigrants and refugees.
• While strengthening provisions to address the abuse of the immigration and refugee system, the Bill does not maintain a strong emphasis on supporting the integration of immigrants and refugees and the need to provide resources to community-based and public services that facilitate newcomers' integration in local communities.
• The Bill does not recognize the costs borne by municipalities for providing public health, emergency shelter and social assistance to refugee claimants as well as social assistance to immigrants because of sponsorship breakdown. These costs should be shared by the Government of Canada.
• The condition for minor children's access to schooling required in Bill C-11 is inconsistent with the Ontario Education Act, which requires all children to be enrolled in school regardless of their immigration status.
• Some provisions in the Bill for refugee determination do not reflect Canadian core values, democratic principles and human rights standards.
• The problem of accreditation of foreign-trained professionals and skilled persons needs to be rapidly resolved.

Recommendations

Recommendation 1: Bill C-11 should be amended to include municipalities in the sections, "Objectives and application" and "Consultations with the provinces" (Section 3(1)(c)&(f); Section 3(3)(c); Section 10(1)&(2)) to make provision for the Government of Canada to consult directly with municipalities receiving large numbers of immigrants and refugees on relevant policy and program issues.

Recommendation 2: The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration should immediately establish a process to include the City of Toronto and other affected municipalities as full participants in the development of regulations to Bill C-11.

Recommendation 3: Section 3, "Objectives and application" in Bill C-11 should be elaborated to include strategic directions that the Government of Canada will take to remove barriers and provide support for the settlement and integration of immigrants and refugees and recognize their contribution to Canadian society, while acknowledging the need to address the abuse of the immigration and refugee system.

Recommendation 4: The Government of Canada should take an active role in facilitating the economic integration of immigrants and refugees, specifically:

i. consulting with professional and technical associations to identify measures to accelerate the professional recognition and skills upgrading of foreign-trained workers, and including the City of Toronto in the consultations in an effort to ensure the rapid resolution of this long outstanding problem
ii. increasing funding and support to enhance the skills upgrading and employment-related language training programs for newcomers.

Recommendation 5: Citizenship and Immigration Canada should reinstate services provided by professional staff in its regional offices to provide information and referral and assistance in completing immigration application forms.

Recommendation 6: The Government of Canada should reimburse municipalities for:

i. public health expenditures related to refugees
ii. social assistance and hostel costs provided to refugees
iii. social assistance to immigrants because of sponsorship breakdown.

Recommendation 7: The Government of Canada should explicitly address and support federal-provincial agreements related to public health, social assistance and hostel costs for newcomers.

Recommendation 8: The regulations to be developed for recovering the costs of social assistance in cases of sponsorship default must ensure that the City of Toronto is reimbursed when costs are recovered.

Recommendation 9: Bill C-11 should be amended to make provision for undocumented refugee children and youngsters under the age of 18, as per the Ontario Education Act (Section 49.1), to be admitted to schools without authorization by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Recommendation 10: The Governments of Canada and Ontario should provide assistance to the School Boards in the Toronto District for the language training needs of immigrant and refugee children and adults.

Recommendation 11: Bill C-11 should be amended to define "gender" as one of the grounds of persecution (Section 3(2)(d)).

Recommendation 12: Bill C-11 should be amended to maintain the status and rights of permanent residents, including the returning resident permit, as in the current Immigration Act.

Recommendation 13: Citizenship and Immigration Canada should clarify detention on the basis of identity in Bill C-11, in consultation with non-governmental organizations, to ensure that provisions in the Bill do not deter genuine refugees without proper identity documents from entering Canada and making refugee claims.