Welcoming Ukrainian refugees | The Ukrainian Congress welcomes the reductions, but considers them insufficient

(Ottawa) Lifting the requirement to provide biometrics for three cohorts of people fleeing war in Ukraine is a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done, says the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. Immigration Minister Sean Fraser assures us that Ottawa is pressing on the accelerator, and that he is still discussing the project to charter aircraft.

Melanie Marquis
The Press

In recent days, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) no longer requires 10 fingerprints, biographical information and a photograph of applicants for young people aged 14 to 17, people aged 60 and over as well as those whose visa had already been pre-approved and who therefore do not have a problematic immigration file.

If the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (CUC) “welcomes” these relaxations, and that it is “a step in the right direction”, the organization believes that the government still does not go “far enough”. In a statement, its president Ihor Michalchyshyn lists among his expectations the implementation of a 90-day transition plan giving refugees access to food, housing and access to health care.

He also believes that the federal government must loosen its purse strings in order to provide funding for access to child care services for the children of displaced families and that it works in concert with the provinces and territories to provide health care, “including advice on post-traumatic stress disorder for adults and children traumatized by war”.

“The vast majority of Ukrainians who will arrive in Canada fleeing Russia’s unwarranted war are women and children. Most will arrive empty-handed. They must have the assurance that their basic needs will be met during this initial period of resettlement”, insisted in a written statement Mr. Michalchyshyn.

Charter planes: discussions continue

Since launching the Canada-Ukraine Emergency Travel Authorization program on March 17, the federal government has received more than 65,000 requests for emergency travel authorization from Ukrainians and members of their family. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Sean Fraser said Thursday that “more than 10,000 applications” are processed each week.

And without having a “big announcement to make” regarding the possibility of chartering flights, as the federal government did in particular in 2015 to welcome Syrian refugees, he stressed that he was in talks with the airlines.

“We are in conversation with Air Transat, with Air Canada, with all the airlines and with LOT Polish Airlines [un transporteur polonais] who chartered a plane to bring people to Alberta. These discussions are continuing,” explained the Minister during a press briefing.

But the operation was not as simple as it seems, he insisted in the same breath: “What we are seeing at the moment is that the movement of people to the four corners of the ‘Europe is unpredictable and based on where these people can safely land for periods of a few days’.

“Many people who have been cleared to come to Canada may have provided their biometrics in Warsaw and then quickly headed west where they can be safe. We don’t necessarily have hundreds or thousands of people sitting around waiting for a plane,” noted Mr. Fraser, also insisting that the communities must also have everything in hand to welcome them.

Bloc Québécois MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe has been hounding the Minister on this issue for quite some time now.

“These people managed to flee the war. The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship must in turn manage to bring them to Canada. We’ve been saying we need planes for a month, when is the minister going to wake up and charter flights? “, he exclaimed again Thursday during question period in the House.