NEW TOOLS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY— THE GLOBAL COMPACT FOR SAFE, ORDERLY AND REGULAR MIGRATION AND THE GLOBAL COMPACT FOR REFUGEES: AN INTERIM REPORT Report of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration Robert Oliphant, Chair DECEMBER 2018 42nd PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION Published under the authority of the Speaker of the House of Commons SPEAKER’S PERMISSION The proceedings of the House of Commons and its Committees are hereby made available to provide greater public access. The parliamentary privilege of the House of Commons to control the publication and broadcast of the proceedings of the House of Commons and its Committees is nonetheless reserved. All copyrights therein are also reserved. Reproduction of the proceedings of the House of Commons and its Committees, in whole or in part and in any medium, is hereby permitted provided that the reproduction is accurate and is not presented as official. This permission does not extend to reproduction, distribution or use for commercial purpose of financial gain. Reproduction or use outside this permission or without authorization may be treated as copyright infringement in accordance with the Copyright Act. Authorization may be obtained on written application to the Office of the Speaker of the House of Commons. Reproduction in accordance with this permission does not constitute publication under the authority of the House of Commons. The absolute privilege that applies to the proceedings of the House of Commons does not extend to these permitted reproductions. Where a reproduction includes briefs to a Standing Committee of the House of Commons, authorization for reproduction may be required from the authors in accordance with the Copyright Act. Nothing in this permission abrogates or derogates from the privileges, powers, immunities and rights of the House of Commons and its Committees. For greater certainty, this permission does not affect the prohibition against impeaching or questioning the proceedings of the House of Commons in courts or otherwise. The House of Commons retains the right and privilege to find users in contempt of Parliament if a reproduction or use is not in accordance with this permission. Also available on the House of Commons website at the following address: www.ourcommons.ca NEW TOOLS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY—THE GLOBAL COMPACT FOR SAFE, ORDERLY AND REGULAR MIGRATION AND THE GLOBAL COMPACT FOR REFUGEES: AN INTERIM REPORT Report of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration Robert Oliphant Chair DECEMBER 2018 42nd PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION NOTICE TO READER Reports from committee presented to the House of Commons Presenting a report to the House is the way a committee makes public its findings and recommendations on a particular topic. Substantive reports on a subject-matter study usually contain a synopsis of the testimony heard, the recommendations made by the committee, as well as the reasons for those recommendations. STANDING COMMITTEE ON CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION CHAIR Robert Oliphant VICE-CHAIRS Hon. Michelle Rempel Jenny Kwan MEMBERS Ramez Ayoub Matt DeCourcey (Parliamentary Secretary — Non-Voting Member) Larry Maguire Randeep Sarai Marwan Tabbara David Tilson Nick Whalen Salma Zahid OTHER MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT WHO PARTICIPATED Ali Ehsassi Wayne Stetski Sylvie Boucher Deborah Schulte CLERK OF THE COMMITTEE Evelyn Lukyniuk LIBRARY OF PARLIAMENT Parliamentary Information and Research Service Julie Béchard, Analyst Madalina Chesoi, Analyst Isabelle Lafontaine-Émond, Analyst iii THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION has the honour to present its TWENTY-THIRD REPORT Pursuant to its mandate under Standing Order 108(2), and the motions adopted by the Committee on Thursday, March 1, 2018 and Tuesday, October 30, 2018, the Committee has studied migration challenges and opportunities for Canada in the 21st century has agreed to report the following: v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................................................. 1 NEW TOOLS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY—THE GLOBAL COMPACT FOR SAFE, ORDERLY AND REGULAR MIGRATION AND THE GLOBAL COMPACT FOR REFUGEES: AN INTERIM REPORT ................................................................................................... 3 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 3 The Global Compacts ...................................................................................................................... 4 The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration ................................ 5 The Global Compact on Refugees ....................................................................................... 5 Common Elements to the Global Compacts ............................................................ 7 Canada’s Next Steps ........................................................................................................................ 8 Support for the Compacts ..................................................................................................... 8 The Global Compacts as a Forum for Canada’s Continued Leadership ............... 9 APPENDIX A: SUPPORT FOR THE GLOBAL COMPACT FOR SAFE, ORDERLY AND REGULAR MIGRATION ............................................................................................................ 11 APPENDIX B: OBJECTIVES OF THE GLOBAL COMPACT FOR SAFE, ORDERLY AND REGULAR MIGRATION ............................................................................................................ 13 APPENDIX C: SUPPORT FOR THE GLOBAL COMPACT ON REFUGEES ........................... 15 APPENDIX D: LIST OF WITNESSES ............................................................................................... 17 APPENDIX E: LIST OF BRIEFS ......................................................................................................... 19 REQUEST FOR GOVERNMENT RESPONSE ................................................................................ 21 DISSENTING OPINION OF THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY OF CANADA ............................ 25 DISSENTING OPINION OF THE NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF CANADA ..................... 29 vii LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS As a result of their deliberations committees may make recommendations which they include in their reports for the consideration of the House of Commons or the Government. Recommendations related to this study are listed below. Recommendation 1 That the Government of Canada vote in favour of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and the Global Compact on Refugees. ......................... 9 Recommendation 2 That the Government of Canada leverage the fora provided by the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and the Global Compact for Refugees to participate in shaping the future global best practices to address migration by: a) sharing Canada’s best practices and participating in the development of responses to the challenges facing internally displaced persons, including victims of genocide like the Yazidi and other victims of Daesh; b) sharing Canada’s best practices and participating in the development of programs to support migrating women and girls globally; c) offering to host future international conferences in support of the objectives of the Compacts; d) dedicating resources to combat myths and misinformation on the Compacts and migration, generally, to reassure Canadians that the Compacts do not threaten Canada’s sovereignty and indeed that safe, orderly and regular migration is important to our future prosperity. ....................................................... 10 NEW TOOLS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY—THE GLOBAL COMPACT FOR SAFE, ORDERLY AND REGULAR MIGRATION AND THE GLOBAL COMPACT FOR REFUGEES: AN INTERIM REPORT INTRODUCTION Since 2000, international migration worldwide has increased by 49%, which, in 2017, represented 258 million people living, either voluntarily or forcibly, in a country other than their country of birth.1 In 2017, 68.5 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide due to persecution, conflict, violence or human rights violations. Of these, 40 million were internally displaced persons (IDPs), 25.4 million were refugees and 3.1 million were asylum-seekers. The number of new displacements in 2017 was equivalent to an average of 44,400 people being forced to flee their homes every day or 31 people displaced every minute.2 It is in this context that the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration (the Committee) started its study on migration challenges and opportunities for Canada in the 21st century.3 As part of its study, the Committee decided4 to examine the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (the Global Compact on Migration or GCM) as well as the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR). This interim report, based on the testimony of 14 witnesses heard between 6 to 29 November 2018 and four briefs, provides an overview of these two international instruments and highlights Canada’s role. 1 House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration [CIMM], Evidence, 1st session, 42nd Parliament, 26 November 2018, 1605 (Matt DeCourcey, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, House of Commons); United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division, Population Facts, December 2017. 2 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees