Refugee process 'amateurish and dangerous,' says expert

FIRST POSTED: MONDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2016 06:23 PM EST 

The Liberals achieved their revised target of bringing 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada by the end of the month. But that doesn't mean the program is now a success, a number of sources say.

"The way they've been handling this is just amateurish and dangerous," former diplomat James Bissett, who first joined the public service in the 1950s, said in a phone interview.

"We just don't have the capacity to find them accommodation and get them settled," he adds. "The NGOs and the church groups themselves have been complaining."

Over the years, Bissett held various senior government positions in immigration and refugee planning, until being appointed ambassador to Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Albania in 1990.

While Canada successfully resettled Vietnamese boat people in the late 1970s and Kosovars in the late 1990s, Bissett points out "there aren't many in the department now who have dealt with refugee issues in the past."

This lack of institutional knowledge may explain the challenges the government is facing, but Bissett also chalks it up to the "artificial targets" set by politicians.

For Michelle Rempel, Conservative immigration and refugee critic, the hard part is just starting. "Now is when the rubber hits the road," she said in a phone interview. "How do we make sure this group of people are positioned for success?"

Housing is one area where, the Calgary Nose Hill MP notes, the government is struggling. "We've heard of refugees being in temporary accommodations for a much longer period of time than the government had advertised."

Jenny Kwan, the NDP critic on the file, has been actively involved in the resettlement process in Vancouver and observes "the challenges on the ground are very real."

The Vancouver East MP has been urging the government to fund some local organizations so they can help in the effort. "By changing that, what the government will be doing is adding capacity on the ground."

In a column earlier this month, I calculated the government was not on track - based on its daily average intake - to hit the Feb. 29 target. The government would, the numbers showed, need to increase its efforts.

However Diane Laursen, an immigration and refugee department spokesperson, explained to the Sun on Monday that "no extra steps were taken to add flights, the flights arriving this past weekend and (Monday) were planned for some time."

But, to Rempel's point, it seems the logistical challenges aren't over. They may even be just beginning.