On March 3, Canada announced new emergency measures to support Ukrainian refugees. We have opened a special pathway for Ukrainians which waives all fees and normal visa requirements, we have established a special family reunification and sponsorship pathway for extended family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents, we are issuing work permits to Ukrainian visitors, workers and students and we are opening special websites, phone lines and offices to speedily process Ukrainian nationals wanting to come to Canada. And all of this is for an “unlimited” number of applicants.
In the words of Canadian Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Sean Fraser,
I am inspired by the courage Ukrainians have displayed as they uphold the democratic ideals that we cherish in Canada. While they defend themselves against Putin’s costly war of aggression, we will provide safe haven to those who fled to protect themselves and their families. Canadians stand with Ukrainians in their time of need and we will welcome them with open arms.
All of this is laudable, and who would not want to do anything we can to support the citizens of Ukraine who, through no fault of their own, find their homes reduced to rubble and their lives upended? But Canada’s response in this situation stands in stark contrast to our response to refugees from a multitude of similar situations.
Akre Camp for Syrian refugees from Rojava in Akre (Aqre) town, Dohuk Governorate, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, 2017. (Photo by Levi Clancy, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
It is true that we have had special streams for refugees when other conflicts have hit the mainstream news. Operation Syrian Refugees welcomed 25,000 refugees in 100 days in 2015-2016. A special program is underway to assist Afghan nationals who assisted Canadians during the Afghan war. But after these conflicts pass through the news cycle, the refugees left behind are forgotten. There are currently 5.7 million registered Syrian refugees still stranded in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. With each passing year, processing times get longer and spots for would-be applicants get harder to find. Resettlement of Syrians has slowed to a trickle of what it was in 2016, and so far, only 8,500 of the 40,000 Afghans who Canada has promised to help have arrived.
Meanwhile, refugees from other forgotten conflicts languish in various camps and communities around the world: 1.2 million Rohingya in the camps of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, 2.2 million Afghan refugees in Iran and Pakistan, 2 million South Sudanese, 4 million displaced Yeminis. They also fled to protect themselves and their families. Do we stand with them in their time of need? Do we welcome them with open arms?
Every year, Canada sets targets for the number of refugees it will bring in under the various sponsorship programs. For 2022, the target is 76,545 people. This includes admissions from Canada’s response to the situation in Afghanistan as well as asylum seekers who make their claims from within Canada. Will the “unlimited” number of Ukrainian refugees take all of the remaining spots, leaving Canada’s doors essentially closed to anyone else for the duration of this conflict? Will the expedited processing of Ukrainian refugees take resources away from the processing of other people who have been waiting “in line” for years for their claims to be processed?
More importantly, will we continue to see the terrible suffering in Ukraine as an “unprecedented” situation that the world has never seen before? Or will this conflict serve to bring us face to face with the kind of brutality and senseless war that so many other human beings have faced over the past half century? Will it help us understand why we need to work for real peace and in the meantime, to unwaveringly welcome, with open arms, all victims of war?
Kate Sircom is a school teacher and a resident of Lockhartville in Kings County, Nova Scotia.
