They are doctors, university professors, engineers, students and teachers. Many of the hundreds who come to Canada as refugees are found employed in the service industry. They are safe and have a future.
June 20, 2006, is World Refugee Day and celebrations will be held all around the world to commemorate the courage and resilience of the millions who have traveled and who continue to travel the Refugee Highway. It is a journey filled with risk and rejection, yet also hope … hope that one day, whether by returning to their country of origin as country conditions change, or in their country of asylum – if permitted to integrate, or resettle in a third country, they will be able to rebuild their lives and regain some of what they have lost.
No one is a refugee by choice. The United Nations defines a refugee as a person, who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.
Presently there are 19 million persons of concern to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. Canada, in recent years, has received approximately 25,000 refugees annually as permanent residents. Some arrive in Canada seeking asylum and must sometimes undergo an arduous process to substantiate their claim and be recognized as refugees. Others, who may have been in refugee camps or been urban refugees in another country of asylum, come through Government, Community or Privately Sponsored Refugee Programs. They arrive as Permanent Residents, since all the processing is completed at Canadian visa posts overseas. Thousands are refused.
The Salvation Army is a partner with Citizenship and Immigration Canada in the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program. Additionally, our ministry units, in population pockets all across the country, not just in large urban centres, are involved with refugee resettlement. The usual activities of English Language Training, accompaniment, help with forms and orientation to Canadian culture and commerce occur. Many things that we take for granted, with our culture’s penchant for paper and superfluous product choice, can be overwhelming for newcomers. In spite of the challenges, most soon become contributing members of society.
Advocacy in this complex system has also become important, as Salvationists stand by or even speak for those who might otherwise have no voice. Issues of Family Reunification, Refugee Appeal and Regularization of Status are ongoing and all work together to create barriers for refugee families. As they must flee for their lives, they are frequently separated from each other. Even after refugees have been accepted for Canada, it is often years before the process of family reunification is completed. Many children have ‘grown up’ by the time they can rejoin their parents.
In a world, whose focus has become security, the Refugee Highway has become even more challenging. The rights of refugees to seek protection can be subtly discouraged, disregarded even, by perception and process. Yet, they persevere. Hope lingers as their search for a durable solution, for a life lived in peace and productivity continues.
.
Had we been born in another part of our world, we could be the ones on that journey. Perhaps that is something else to stop and think about on World Refugee Day. May we never take for granted the freedoms and opportunities that are ours as Canadians.
