The story of the Getting Landed Project

Eliminating Limbo for Refugees
A Public Awareness and Advocacy Strategy

Introduction

The “Getting Landed Project” was launched in 1999 in response to the undue delays that refugees and immigrants face in obtaining landed immigrant status.

A coordinator was hired, an agenda spelled out, and work ensued on the barrier facing refugees. The project was founded originally as a partnership by three coalitions (the Southern Ontario Sanctuary Coalition, the Coalition Against the Head Tax, and the Coalition for a Just Immigration and Refugee Policy). The project operated under the management of Citizens for Public Justice and the Public Justice Resource Centre. Over the years, however, the project evolved into the ongoing refugee efforts of CPJ and PJRC, without an outside committee. All the work outlined in the refugee section of this website can rightly be considered the work of the Getting Landed Project.

A note of interest: In the ensuing years, the terms have been changed and now asylum claimants seek Protected Person status and then seek to become permanent residents of Canada. The term "landed" continues to be helpful, however.

ELIMINATING BARRIERS

'Head tax'

The first barrier to landing was seen as the Right of Landing Fee which the federal government had imposed on refugees and immigrants in the 1995 federal budget. The $975 fee was to reduce federal debt but it put the burden of that debt on people fleeing to safety in Canada – people who often have little, if any, money. In 2000, after focussed work by coalitions, partners, and the faith community, the ROLF, or so-called "head tax," was lifted for refugees in the 2000 federal budget. That was a great cause for celebration. The ROLF remains in place for immigrants, however. And other fees burden refugees still.

Head tax fact sheets from 2001.

The problem of ID

A second barrier was identification. Of course Canada requires that refugees can establish their identity and looks to documents from the home country to verify identify. But what happens when that country is in a state of civil war, or there is no central authority operating? That was the case for Somali, Afghan and other refugees in the early part of this decade. It's also the fact that in Canada we're used to carrying our ID with us all the time -- to get on a bus, drive a car, take out a library book. Not so everywhere. If you flee without documents, how do you prove who you are? And how does Canada protect you, as well as protect itself?

A court challenge based on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by 11 Somali refugees brought the creation of the Aden Agreement in 2001 that addressed this problem. Out of this agreement, statutory declarations or "statdecs" were created as a means of establishing identity when the proper documentation wasn't available. This method was entrenched in the 2002 Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations and remains in effect.

More about Aden

The Aden Agreement
Identification fact sheets from 2001
Celebration Catalyst newsletter article

Student loans

Education is the key to opportunity in Canada. Protected persons in Canada were limited in their ability to go to college, university and technical schools because they weren't eligible for student loans. Young refugee students and their families often have little money and all Canadians know that tuitions have only gone up in past years. Loans are the answer.

With a broad spectrum of partners, CPJ led in making the case and creating a campaign to see protected persons in Canada become eligible for federal and provincial student loans. The federal government instituted that change in the 2003 budget, and provinces have followed suit since.

The story of this five year struggle is laid out in a Caledon Institute for Social Policy paper called Student Loans for Refugees: A Success Story in Policy Change. More about achieving student loans, including supporting documents, is available in the "What we've done" section of the website.

Information about applying for student loans is laid out in a series of guides by province and territory which can be found in the student loans section of this website.

From then til now

Despite the success outlined here, refugees in Canada continue to experience legal limbo while waiting to pass through phases of red tape and get on with their lives. The rise of terrorism fears, notably since 9/11, see refugees equated with security threats. In fact, however, there is no evidence to back this up. Indeed, asylum-seekers have to pass through a strenuous screening and identitfication process to be accepted as protected persons in the first place.

Regardless of the safeguards, Canada has chosen to take the route of fear. Canada closed its borders to asylum-seekers who attempt to enter this country through other seemingly safe countries, such as the United States.

Rethinking was in order. The solution? Instead of the duplication of processes currently in effect, why not take one rigorous examination of the refugee and then "land" them as permanent residents in Canada. It's not like this can't be revoked should there be cause. But it would do wonders for integration, for finding work, getting education – becoming Canadians. The proposal, called "automatic landing," is laid out in a Public Justice Resource paper, Permanent Protection, published in 2004.

The situation and causes of limbo, and the solution of automatic landing, were also laid out in issue 22.2 of the journal Refuge, published by the Centre for Refugee Studies at York University. CPJ executive director Harry Kits was guest editor of that issue.

The Welcome the Stranger project, launched in 2005, undertakes a campaign of education and advocacy to help make Canada a more welcoming place for refugees.