(Calgary) A new study recommends that Canada change its visa policy to speed up the admission of Ukrainian refugees, which has slowed considerably.
Posted at 11:49 a.m.
The study by the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy, released Thursday, says that compared to other countries, Canada has taken in a small number of the millions of Ukrainians who have been displaced since Russia invaded this Eastern European country in February.
“Applications from Ukrainians are starting to far exceed the number that is being granted by the Canadian government and we don’t even have a really clear picture of how many Ukrainians are being welcomed into the country,” the author said. study, Robert Falconer.
Statistics show that the “Canada-Ukraine Emergency Travel Authorization” program, intended to speed up the process of visas and temporary residence permits for Ukrainians and their families, is not enough, he said. . As of June 22, about 190,000 Ukrainians had pending applications to come to Canada, up from about 140,000 a month earlier.
Professor Falconer believes that this program, which requires those arriving to hold a visa, is responsible for Canada’s lagging behind other countries, including Ireland, which has waived this visa requirement.
“Before a Commons committee, one of the objections [à l’assouplissement] was that if we let the Ukrainians in, Russian spies would use them to infiltrate the system, he said. Russian espionage exists, but the refugee channel is one of the most ineffective ways to try to infiltrate a Russian spy into the country. »
According to Mr. Falconer, federal agencies responsible for public safety and intelligence could very well, with the proper resources, manage the security risks involving the visa process. He recommends that Ottawa adopt the Irish model, or some other “on arrival model,” for conducting visa checks once people arrive in the country — something many countries already do, he said.
“When you get to the airport, you have to wait a little while while government officials go through security checks,” Falconer said.
“We are doing risk assessments and we can probably already allow entry of this eight-year-old child, who is probably not a Russian spy, while an unaccompanied man in his mid-twenties […] we can hold him while we check his background and let him in.
“Let them get here to safety first, then deal with them from there,” he recommends.
According to Professor Falconer, an overwhelming majority of Canadians support welcoming large numbers of Ukrainian refugees, and Canada has the highest percentage of people of Ukrainian descent outside of Ukraine and Russia.
The study he piloted shows that Canada and the UK have similar processes for admitting Ukrainian refugees — and the numbers are comparable. Thus, around 13 times more Ukrainian refugees per capita arrived in Ireland than in the UK during the first two months of the Russian invasion.
Mr. Falconer indicated that the conclusions of his study will be transmitted to the federal government, but it is not certain that this would result in a relaxation of the requirements with immigration. “I think they probably know. I think they are very, very, very concerned – less about Ukrainians than about the immigration situation in general. »