Immigration and Canada’s Haitian community

Last week Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced that, in light of the recent devastating earthquake in Haiti, the government will explore options for fast tracking Haitian applicants. Since then, Kenney has been refining these options.

The response was quick, likely in part to Canada’s strong ties to Haiti. According to Statistics Canada, Canadians of Haitian decent make up one of the largest non-European minorities in the country, including Governor General, Michaëlle Jean. Haiti is also a top recipient of Canadian foreign aid.

The new guidelines from Citizenship and Immigration will fast track applications of Haitians filed before the earthquake, as well as process new applications of Haitians with immediate family already in Canada. Last week Kenney made it clear that Canada wants to support the people of Haiti during this very difficult time, specifically by facilitating family reunification. “I want to express my deepest sympathy and support for the people of Haiti. Canada has welcomed a large community of Haitians to this country and is working to reunite families affected by this disaster as quickly as possible.”

In addition Kenney announced that cases of Canadians seeking to adopt Haitian children who were already approved by the Canadian and Haitian governments prior to the earthquake will be processed quickly. Under ordinary circumstance parents would go to Haiti themselves to bring home the adopted children. Instead, the children will be permitted to enter Canada without parents, which will speed up the process considerably.

In general, both the Haitian community in Canada and refugee advocacy organizations such as the Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR) are grateful for the immediate response of the government to the crisis, and the emphasis on humanitarian and family immigration.

But these same communities and groups feel that these actions are not enough, particularly considering the definition of immediate family. Janet Dench from CCR initially expressed her appreciation of the government’s actions, but then voiced her concern, "[T]he feeling strongly is that the measures that have been announced to date are quite inadequate to the event."

The classification of family relationships by the government is very narrow. Only spouses, children under 22, parents, grandparents and orphaned minors are counted as immediate family, and qualify under the new regulations. This does not cover siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins.

Many observers worry that with so much devastation that those left with next to nothing may be further excluded from family reunification because their Canadian connection does not fit the limited restrictions. This means, for example, that a Canadian with parents who are deceased, but who still has adult siblings or cousins in Haiti cannot expect to bring them to Canada any time soon.

Within days of the earthquake the government took action to assist the people of Haiti, concentrating on search and rescue, humanitarian aid and now family reunification. Reuniting families is a most laudable goal. Let us fully support Canadians with family roots in Haiti by means of the most flexible and rapid .immigration procedures available.