Children

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Childrens Issues at Citizenship and Immigration
Canada (CIC) An Overview Canadian presentation
to the OAS Special Committee on Migration Affairs
Washington, D.C., October 20, 2009
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Purpose

• Provide overview of childrens issues at CIC
• Children and CICs mandate
• Legislative and policy context
• Links with CIC programs
• Possible directions for policy-relevant research

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CIC Mandate

• Citizenship and Immigration Canada has economic,
  social, and humanitarian roles
• Security/health/safety responsibility
• The department
• Admits immigrants, foreign students, visitors and
  temporary workers who help Canadas social and
  economic growth
• Resettles, protects, and provides a safe haven
  for refugees
• Helps newcomers adapt to Canadian society and
  become Canadian citizens
• Manages access to Canada to protect the security
  and health of Canadians and the integrity of
  Canadian laws
• Helps Canadians and newcomers to participate
  fully in the economic, political, social and
  cultural life of the country

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Children and CICs Mandate

• Children come to Canada

• Accompanying their skilled worker parents,
• As persons sponsored by Canadians and permanent
  residents,
• As students and visitors,
• As persons resettled because of their need for
  protection, and
• To ask for Canadas protection.

• Children then later

• Begin to settle and integrate into Canada,
• Form part of our multicultural mosaic, and
• Become Canadian citizens.

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Legislative and Policy Context

• Canada is a signatory to the United Nations
  Convention on the Rights of the Child
• CIC considers its provisions in work affecting
  children
• Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA)
  includes six specific references to best
  interests of the child (BIOC)
• Example BIOC must be taken into account when
  examining requests for humanitarian and
  compassionate consideration
• IRPA commitment to gender-based analysis (GBA)
• GBA engages range of diversity considerations in
  policy and program development, including impacts
  on children and families
• Citizenship Act and Immigration and Refugee
  Protection Regulations require that granting of
  citizenship to minor adoptees be limited to
  adoptions in the childs best interests

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Immigration

• Children are evident in CIC efforts to further
  IRPA objectives related to family reunification
  (e.g. accelerated processing for children and
  spouses)
• BIOC is a factor in HC considerations that may
  be weighed against others, e.g. establishment in
  Canada

Refugee Protection

• BIOC considered in decisions on minors to be
  resettled
• BIOC not a criterion for in-Canada protection
  decisions, where instead a determination is made
  of whether the child (claimant) is at risk of
  persecution, risk of torture, or a risk to life
  or of cruel and unusual punishment or treatment
• However, BIOC influences the status determination
  process

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Integration

• IRPA objective to promote successful integration
  for permanent residents is inclusive of children
• Children eligible for settlement services but
  parent is normally the primary client children
  under legal school-leaving age not eligible for
  language training (access to second language
  classes in schools)

Citizenship

• Citizenship Act and IRPR require that granting of
  citizenship to minor adoptees be limited to
  adoptions in the childs best interests
• Childrens issues are considered in
  policy/program development

Multiculturalism

• Cultural at-risk youth are assisted in gaining
  self-confidence, knowledge, and skills for
  participation and civic engagement in order to
  prevent cultural marginalization, detachment and
  radicalization.

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Links to CIC programs (1)

• Child-sensitive policies, practices, activities
• Refugee Protection
• Child- and gender-sensitive guidelines, including
  interviewing guidelines, for officers conducting
  eligibility interviews with children who claim
  refugee protection
• Referral to appropriate child protection agencies
  for unaccompanied/separated children and children
  who may otherwise be at risk
• Requirement that a designated representative be
  appointed for all minor children for Immigration
  and Refugee Board (IRB) proceedings
• IRB guidelines on child refugee claimants,
  vulnerable persons
• Guardianship Protocol in refugee resettlement
  context
• Procedures for de facto dependants of principal
  applicants, consanguineous minors (being reunited
  with adult blood relative, not a parent, in
  Canada)
• Encourages establishment of legal guardianship,
  ensures care and protection necessary for
  well-being
• Allowances specific to children through the
  Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP), e.g.
  school start-up, newborn needs

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Links to CIC programs (2)

• Child-sensitive policies, practices, activities
• Immigration
• Immigration officers receive training on
  assessing the best interests of the child when
  making HC decisions
• Both children and adults identified as victims of
  trafficking are eligible to receive a special
  Temporary Resident Permit (TRP), allowing them to
  stay in Canada temporarily to escape their
  traffickers and begin to recover from their
  ordeal
• Multiculturalism
• Assist cultural youth-at-risk to gain
  self-confidence and skills for civic
  participation,
• Provide opportunities for youth to gain practical
  learning experience and develop skills to
  contribute to the life of their communities
• Assist in addressing the root causes of cultural
  youth marginalization
• Help youth respond to racism and hate-motivated
  activities

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Links to CIC programs (3)

• Child-sensitive policies, practices, activities
• Integration
• Fund some programs specifically geared to youth,
  recognizing that many youth have difficulty
  navigating a new culture while living in a family
  that often maintains similarities to the family
  structures in their country of origin
• Settlement Workers in Schools (SWIS) program
• Citizenship
• Various provisions in the Citizenship Act that
  recognize the unique circumstances of children,
  e.g.
• A parent or guardian may apply on behalf of a
  child who has a Canadian parent. Waiver
  provisions exist to allow a child to apply as an
  adult.
• Children cannot renounce their citizenship and
  the parents of children cannot renounce their
  children's citizenship
• A child born outside Canada after the death of
  the Canadian parent is considered to be born
  before the death of that parent to preserve the
  childs right to citizenship by descent

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Some Policy Research Directions

• Settlement needs of immigrant youth
• Children benefit from language, employment
  programs offered to parents, legal guardians
• Importance of identifying needs for different
  immigration categories, groups
• Youth at risk, second generation
• How can integration programming best support
  optimal outcomes for youth, i.e. address any
  special needs?
• International comparisons
• Best practices for receiving child im/migrants,
  ensuring appropriate care and support, promoting
  successful integration

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(No Transcript)