As a major world congress on agroforestry opens on Sunday at Université Laval, dozens of participants, mostly from developing countries, still have no news of their visa applications, even though they were made months ago. The conference organizers and their allies deplore the absence of several highly anticipated guests, including several luminaries in the field.
“The people who cannot come are mainly from Africa and Asia, but also from Latin America”, indicates one of the main organizers of the congress, Alain Olivier, professor at the Faculty of Agricultural and food at Laval University. “There are some countries where it works well […], but there are countries, like India, where hardly anyone will be able to come. It’s very difficult. I’ve had lots of emails from people telling me they’re giving up. »
According to the most recent data, out of 688 participants, 128 will attend the conferences in a virtual format. Without knowing the reasons for the absence of each of these people, Mr. Olivier argues that several dozen of them would have chosen this option if they had not been able to get their hands on a visa.
“What is amazing is that many of them are renowned speakers and scientists. They have traveled a lot and come from recognized international institutions,” he says. “We have people from the largest agroforestry research institution in the world (the World Agroforestry Centre). They are based in Kenya, and we are very worried that they cannot come. »
Out of seven high-profile plenary speakers, six will not receive their visas in time. Of the 16 farmers, including several women, specially invited by the congress, half will not be able to come for lack of a visa. Of the four chairpersons of thematic sessions who needed visas, three have still not obtained them, according to the organizers.
Less “color” at the congress
SOCODEVI, an international cooperation NGO, regrets that only two of the six farmers it supports were able to obtain their visa. “We were worried until the start of the week, but now we’re just disappointed, because with all the hotel and transport logistics, we had no choice but to make the decision was over for them. We find that extremely unfortunate,” laments Virginie Levasseur, Strategy, Policy and Cooperative Development Director at SOCODEVI.
Among them was the guest of honor and keynote speaker, Isabelle Ahou Fram Tano, a cocoa farmer in Côte d’Ivoire who submitted a complete application last March, when the average processing time indicated on the Immigration Canada site was 36 days. She still hasn’t heard from her request, and the deadlines are now 84 days, double that. “It’s a pity and very sad for the sharing of experience that could have taken place between research and the field. The women could have networked with each other and come away with ideas to be better agents of change,” adds Ms.me Lifter.
Professor Olivier also believes that the absence of these people from southern countries risks “affecting the color of the event”, which was intended to be geographically fair. He also deplores all the stress and problems that these participants, who live in rural areas, have had to face. “Some have paid a lot of money to be able to come, and they don’t even have their answer in time,” he says. He added that his congress had nevertheless been registered with the Canadian authorities.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) acknowledged that the congress had registered with its Special Events Unit, but that its service “is experiencing longer than usual processing times for visitor visa applications”, answered the To have to Isabelle Dubois, spokesperson for IRCC. “Although the ministry is able to expedite the processing […], it cannot grant special treatment or exempt participants and invited officials from visa requirements. »
This international event is not the only one affected by the difficulties in obtaining visas from IRCC. As The duty revealed on Thursday, the delays for obtaining a tourist visa have exploded lately, which compromises, among other things, the attendance of hundreds of African specialists at an international conference on AIDS to be held in Montreal from July 29 to August 2. .