The unusual move, which revived the handling of refugee claims as an issue in Canada’s current election campaign, was reported by The Globe and Mail, a Toronto newspaper. It was unclear why Mr. Harper’s office took the step against Syrians in particular. But Chris Alexander, the minister of citizenship and immigration, described it as a security audit.
“Starting a new refugee resettlement program in a volatile conflict zone poses particular challenges,” Mr. Alexander said in a statement sent by email. “The government has consistently been concerned that the most vulnerable refugees get the protection they need and that Canadian security is not compromised in any way.”
Criticism from political opponents fell on Mr. Harper and his Conservative government last month after it emerged that the family of Aylan Kurdi, the 3-year-old boy whose death drew great attention after his body was photographed on a Turkish shore, had hoped to come to Canada.
The government promised in January to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees into Canada over three years. But refugee aid groups and potential sponsors have repeatedly complained about the sluggishness of that process. As of late August, only 1,074 Syrian refugees had been admitted.
Jennifer Bond, a law professor at the University of Ottawa who specializes in refugee issues, said that while much remained unclear about the actions of the prime minister’s office, the decision unquestionably delayed refugees seeking safety.
“There was a delay during a time when there was a desperate need for Syrians to get protection,” she said. Professor Bond added that Canada has a carefully developed system in which experts consider security, among other factors, in assessing claims, “and those experts are not in the prime minister’s office.”
Mr. Harper’s political opponents quickly picked up the issue, linking it back to Aylan Kurdi, although the boy’s immediate family had never formally applied to enter Canada.
At a rally at a Toronto hotel on Thursday, Tom Mulcair, the leader of the New Democratic Party, said that last month Mr. Harper had “appeared before us to emote, talking about his own family after seeing the body of that little child on that beach in Turkey.”
Within the context of the processing delays, Mr. Mulcair said Mr. Harper’s words had become “abject behavior on the part of a Canadian prime minister.”
The Liberal leader, Justin Trudeau, said Thursday that it was improper for Mr. Harper’s office to interfere in “important processes where lives are at stake.”
During a campaign stop in Vancouver, British Columbia, Mr. Harper offered little detail about the review, which occurred in June for an unspecified period. The national election is scheduled for Oct. 19.
“Political staff are never involved in approving refugee applications,” Mr. Harper said after echoing Mr. Alexander’s comments about security. “Such decisions are made by officials in the Department of Citizenship and Immigration.”
Mr. Alexander and his department said that the delays involved only applications for refugees who would be sponsored by the government and who were recommended by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The government has indicated that it wants the bulk of Syrians who come to Canada to be sponsored privately, generally by Canadian families or church or immigrant aid groups.
Neither Mr. Alexander’s department nor the prime minister’s office responded to questions about why only that subset of refugees was reviewed or what prompted the security worries. It is also unclear who conducted the review and if those people had access to sensitive personal information.
All of the applications in the review had already been vetted through the conventional process. No security issues were discovered and no applications were rejected, the department said.
Janet Dench, the executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees, which is based in Montreal, said the review was only one example in which Mr. Harper’s office intervened in matters related to Syrian refugees.
“The Syrian refugee issue has really been highly politicized for the last year and a half at least,” she said. “When you put a hold on a government-assisted refugee program — we’re aware of how devastating these things can be.”
Ms. Dench added, “We’re talking, by definition, about the most vulnerable.”
Original Article
Source: mobile.nytimes.com/
Author: IAN AUSTEN
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