(OTTAWA) Another international conference in Montreal is likely to be disrupted by Ottawa’s delays in processing visas in general, as well as denials that some say would target attendees from poorer countries.
The International Studies Association, headquartered at the University of Connecticut, organizes social science conferences throughout North America. The association will hold its annual congress in Montreal in mid-March, just after an international conference on pedagogy.
Its director, Mark Boyer, admits that these visa problems are “extremely frustrating” and difficult for the organizers to manage. “There’s a myth that it’s harder to bring people here in the United States, but it’s actually a problem in Canada,” he says.
Entire round tables scheduled for next month in Montreal are thus on hold, because in several cases, six participants in the same round table have not yet obtained their visa to enter Canada.
Others, like María Gabriela Vargas, were turned away altogether. The Colombian political scientist studies gender issues in justice systems, but she now spends a lot of time trying to recoup the $2,600 in hotel, participation and plane ticket costs already incurred on her trip to Montreal.
“It’s so complicated — and it seems to be common for young people and (those in the) southern hemisphere,” lamented M.me Vargas being interviewed from Colombia. “We are trying to create international networks, decolonization, non-discriminatory spaces and more equitable access to knowledge. (The visa issues) run completely counter to that idea. »
Mme Vargas applied for a visa in December, but was rejected within a month because she failed to demonstrate that she had enough money to support herself for his stay in Canada.
She submitted a second application, with more documentation, but the consulate again denied it on the grounds that she did not have “a legitimate business purpose in Canada.”
According to the director of activities at the International Studies Association, Jennifer Fontanella, about 600 of the 6,000 scholars invited to the event in Montreal have visa problems, 80 of whom have been refused; hundreds more are awaiting a decision and at least a hundred have withdrawn from the international meeting.
Not new
Last September, many delegates reported similar problems when they attempted to attend the American Political Science Association conference in Montreal. And in December, hundreds of delegates from developing countries missed the COP15 conference in Montreal due to visa problems that stemmed in part from the late issuance of accreditations by the United Nations.
Last summer, Canada’s immigration department caused an uproar by denying visas to several African delegates who wanted to attend the International AIDS Conference, also held in Montreal — some attendees spoke openly about racism.
The International Studies Association (ISA) previously faced visa delays for a conference in Toronto in 2019. This time around, organizers worked with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to try to avoid such issues. .
According to Mme Fontanella, the department issued an “event code,” which the ISA provided to visa applicants so that Ottawa could expedite the processing of applications. This code also confirmed that these claimants had been invited to the Montreal conference.
In issuing visas, the department normally places great importance on the likelihood that an applicant will actually return home, but the event code is meant to help alleviate this concern.
Departmental data updated on Tuesday shows the average processing of visa applications for people based in Britain takes 217 days, and 212 days for people in France. Citizens of these countries do not need a visitor’s visa to come to Canada, but scholars from many developing countries based in Paris or London need a visa to attend a conference in Montreal.
This problem has become so widespread that a group of researchers in Ottawa has obtained a federal grant to study it.