Six months after the crisis in Afghanistan, Quebec is struggling to welcome the 300 Afghan refugees it had pledged to receive, noted The duty. According to figures provided by the Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration (MIFI), barely 89 of them settled in Quebec under the Special Program for Afghans who helped the government of Canada last August, while there are several thousand in the rest of the country.
By comparing this humanitarian operation to the one carried out for the Syrians in 2015-2016, where more than 5,000 Syrian refugees were welcomed by Quebec, we have to admit that it is not on the same scale, admits Stephan Reichhold, director of the Round Table of Organizations Serving Refugees and Immigrants (TCRI). “It’s still quite disappointing. Last August and September, we thought we would receive thousands of Afghans, the City of Montreal was hypermobilized, and in the end very few Afghans arrived in Quebec, he said. At least, [le gouvernement] will have tried. »
For the whole of 2021, apart from the 89 who came to Quebec thanks to the special federal program, 232 Afghans were admitted as refugees in the province, following the outcome of private sponsorship applications submitted in previous years. The Legault government’s target for 2021 is 7,500 refugees of all origins.
As for the Canadian government, it said last week that it was working “hard” to reach its target of 40,000 Afghan refugees. However, so far, 7,885 Afghans have arrived, ie 4,600 under the Special Program for Afghans who have helped the government and 3,285 thanks to another Canadian humanitarian program intended for the most vulnerable (women leaders, LGBTI people, etc.).
Difficult retention
According to MIFI, Afghan refugees who came to Quebec under the federal resettlement program mostly settled in Montreal, Longueuil and Brossard. Despite the fact that Sherbrooke is home to the second largest Afghan community, barely 11 people, who came thanks to the federal program, have chosen to live there, but 52 refugees, who entered through the “regular channel” of sponsorships, also settled there. installed. When the first families arrived last September, the then director of the New Canadian Aid Service (SANC) at the time, Mercedes Orellana, already recognized that a smaller number than expected were going to settle in Estrie and Quebec in general.
We said we were going to immigrate as many people as possible [d’Afghans]. The result
is really disappointing.
At the time, an Afghan worker and interpreter from the SANC went to Toronto at the request of the MIFI to try to convince newcomers to come and settle in Quebec. According to Mme Orellana, it was important to check whether the family had ties or a particular interest in coming to settle in a province like Quebec, which has its particularities, in particular the French language. “It’s good to check, because it will be a retention factor for later,” she said. Abroad, Canada is better known than Quebec.
The MIFI also explains Quebec’s lack of attraction by the popularity of major Canadian cities. “Quebec was ready to welcome more families, however, it seems that a significant proportion of the Afghan refugees who have arrived to date have preferred to remain in the greater Toronto area, where family members or relatives have already settled. “, declared Émilie Vézina, spokesperson for the MIFI.
A “lack of ambition”
The deputy of Québec solidaire and spokesperson for immigration, Andrés Fontecilla, believes that the reception target set was too low and did not reflect the needs. “Three hundred people seemed very small to us. At 4 people per family, it’s not even 80 families,” he told the Homework. He recalls that, last summer, welcoming Afghans to Canada was an “emergency”. “We said we were going to immigrate as many people as possible [d’Afghans]. The result is really disappointing. »
Liberal MP Saul Polo also deplores the Quebec government’s “lack of ambition”. “Having been in contact with a large number of Afghan people, in Laval, but also in other cities like Sherbrooke, I can say that they are disappointed and frustrated by the government’s lack of ambition in the Afghan situation. It seems that the government does not take into account the fact that the community is ready to mobilize to welcome and integrate them. »
This is precisely what Nancy Green-Grégoire and Clothilde Parent-Chartier, both members of Tri-Parish + Friends for Refugees, a collective sponsorship group (private sponsorship), would like to do. In an open letter published last September, they asked that collective sponsorship be used for Afghans, which the ceilings imposed did not allow. ” There are [gens] here who were ready to sponsor and who wanted to react quickly, like during the Syrian crisis, but it was not possible”, recalls Mme Parent-Chartier, saying that he sees collective sponsorship as complementary to state sponsorship.
In 2020, the group notably sponsored a family of Afghans, refugees in Pakistan, who have not yet arrived. He also filed, last month, three other files of Afghan members of the same family who fled to Pakistan, who have not yet succeeded in obtaining official refugee status. “We don’t know if they will meet the criteria [du MIFI]. Will they be able to benefit from special treatment when it is very difficult for them to obtain proof from the High Commissioner for Refugees? worries M.me Parent Chartier.