freespirit
27th August 2011, 06:26 PM
http://news.sympatico.ca/oped/coffee-talk/ottawa_to_give_failed_refugees_2000_as_incentive_t o_leave_canada/4eda51ea
Under the new Balanced Refugee Reform Act, the Canadian government will give failed refugees a plane ticket home and hand them $2000 to reintegrate back into their countries.
Starting next June, the Assisted Voluntary Returns (AVR) program under the Balanced Refugee Reform Act will allow Ottawa to buy failed refugees airline tickets back to their own countries and give them up to $2000 to use for business pursuits and vocational/job training once they are home. The incentive is meant to prevent individuals from staying in Canada once they have been denied refugee status.
Proponents say it costs taxpayers millions of dollars to track, monitor and remove failed refugees and even more to carry the burden of the roughly 44,000 immigration offenders illegally residing in Canada. It therefore makes more sense financially to get unsuccessful asylum seekers to leave as quickly as possible. The $2000 is enough to help them reintegrate into their home countries but not enough to attract false claimants trying to abuse the system.
Only those failed refugees without criminal records and those who follow the terms and conditions imposed on them would qualify for the program. Volunteers would be allowed to reapply for a return to Canada, but those caught taking advantage of the program would be ineligible for reapplication.
18 European countries already have similar programs in place.
Because it's just not feasible for Canada to continue to support asylum seekers who remain in the country illegally, the AVR program is a progressive step in the right direction. In theory, it offers those who have been denied refugee status the hope that they will be able to reapply in the future and gives them a cushion of support by easing the financial burdens that come with reestablishing life back in one's own country. Whereas with forced deportation authorities in the origin countries are notified of the failed claimant's return, the anonymity surrounding voluntary returns would ideally allow individuals to reenter home countries quietly and safely.
But it's exactly this promise of anonymity that leads me to wonder whether the program will really be effective in practice. Refugees, after all, are fleeing persecution, torture, or even cruel and unusual punishment back home. They are leaving countries of great political unrest, famine, and war. I doubt that the $2000 would be enough to persuade someone, whose life is in grave danger, to return to the very danger he or she was escaping in the first place. Even if that individual were to reenter his or her country with a promise of anonymity, the risk of being identified at border control and handed over to authorities is pretty much guaranteed and, quite frankly, not worth it. I know that no amount of money would ever compel me to voluntarily go back into the hands of my persecutor.
The money given is also intended for job and vocational training or business pursuits in the refugee's country of origin. Theoretically, this would allow for a smoother, more successful reintegration into society. However, I would imagine that asylum seekers left their countries in the first place because the climate (war, famine, persecution) offered no room for such opportunities to even exist. How exactly does one reintegrate into a failed society?
Anyone who has done it before knows that starting a new life in a new country is just plain hard. But it is especially challenging for refugees who feel they have no other choice but to uproot their entire lives, leave behind their countries, and enter a new and often radically foreign culture with no form of financial or emotional support to fall back on. Asylum seekers live in a limbo of uncertainty, and the process of applying for refugee status in Canada is so lengthy and daunting (fingerprinting, multiple interviews, and security checks by the CSIS and the RCMP) that one would think that only those people who feel that they have no other choice would subject themselves to it.
But, like any system, there are those who abuse it. So, I suppose then that the financial incentives are in place to distinguish between actual refugees and those just trying to jump the immigration queue. A person, who doesn't feel like his or her life is in jeopardy back home, will likely take the money and just leave.
The program's usefulness remains to be seen, and I can only hope that it doesn't dissuade immigration officials from carefully and fairly reviewing each asylum seeker's case, as no amount of money excuses endangering someone's life.
...from the comments...
What about the people that built this country? Pay taxes all their lives? What about the hard working people that break their backs every single day contributing to Canadian society ? What do we get? NOTHING? instead Canada wantt to give OUR HARD WORKING TAX DOLLARS to people who YOU feel sorry for because they have a easy life when they get here to Canada? As soon as they get here, be it..a plane or a floating door they get everything..and more handed to them on a GOLD platter!!
I agree with all of these comments. Escort them straight back to the airport.
If ANY of us were in THEIR Countries illegally...you know exactly what would happen to us. LET ME TELL YOU CANADA.. WE WONT BE HANDED A PLANE TICKET AND $2000 BUCKS! FORGET IT!
Its time we Canadians need to take a stand. WE could also learn from the Americans about being a little more patriotic and if you want to come to Canada...BE CANADIAN.
FOR Example... I believe I should have every right to say ..."Merry Christmas" to people when im in public...just an example. My roots are born and raised here. HARD HONEST WORK. Politically correct MY A**!!
sorry if anyone finds that offensive but its the truth and im not the only canadian who feels this way!
...more comments at link...
Under the new Balanced Refugee Reform Act, the Canadian government will give failed refugees a plane ticket home and hand them $2000 to reintegrate back into their countries.
Starting next June, the Assisted Voluntary Returns (AVR) program under the Balanced Refugee Reform Act will allow Ottawa to buy failed refugees airline tickets back to their own countries and give them up to $2000 to use for business pursuits and vocational/job training once they are home. The incentive is meant to prevent individuals from staying in Canada once they have been denied refugee status.
Proponents say it costs taxpayers millions of dollars to track, monitor and remove failed refugees and even more to carry the burden of the roughly 44,000 immigration offenders illegally residing in Canada. It therefore makes more sense financially to get unsuccessful asylum seekers to leave as quickly as possible. The $2000 is enough to help them reintegrate into their home countries but not enough to attract false claimants trying to abuse the system.
Only those failed refugees without criminal records and those who follow the terms and conditions imposed on them would qualify for the program. Volunteers would be allowed to reapply for a return to Canada, but those caught taking advantage of the program would be ineligible for reapplication.
18 European countries already have similar programs in place.
Because it's just not feasible for Canada to continue to support asylum seekers who remain in the country illegally, the AVR program is a progressive step in the right direction. In theory, it offers those who have been denied refugee status the hope that they will be able to reapply in the future and gives them a cushion of support by easing the financial burdens that come with reestablishing life back in one's own country. Whereas with forced deportation authorities in the origin countries are notified of the failed claimant's return, the anonymity surrounding voluntary returns would ideally allow individuals to reenter home countries quietly and safely.
But it's exactly this promise of anonymity that leads me to wonder whether the program will really be effective in practice. Refugees, after all, are fleeing persecution, torture, or even cruel and unusual punishment back home. They are leaving countries of great political unrest, famine, and war. I doubt that the $2000 would be enough to persuade someone, whose life is in grave danger, to return to the very danger he or she was escaping in the first place. Even if that individual were to reenter his or her country with a promise of anonymity, the risk of being identified at border control and handed over to authorities is pretty much guaranteed and, quite frankly, not worth it. I know that no amount of money would ever compel me to voluntarily go back into the hands of my persecutor.
The money given is also intended for job and vocational training or business pursuits in the refugee's country of origin. Theoretically, this would allow for a smoother, more successful reintegration into society. However, I would imagine that asylum seekers left their countries in the first place because the climate (war, famine, persecution) offered no room for such opportunities to even exist. How exactly does one reintegrate into a failed society?
Anyone who has done it before knows that starting a new life in a new country is just plain hard. But it is especially challenging for refugees who feel they have no other choice but to uproot their entire lives, leave behind their countries, and enter a new and often radically foreign culture with no form of financial or emotional support to fall back on. Asylum seekers live in a limbo of uncertainty, and the process of applying for refugee status in Canada is so lengthy and daunting (fingerprinting, multiple interviews, and security checks by the CSIS and the RCMP) that one would think that only those people who feel that they have no other choice would subject themselves to it.
But, like any system, there are those who abuse it. So, I suppose then that the financial incentives are in place to distinguish between actual refugees and those just trying to jump the immigration queue. A person, who doesn't feel like his or her life is in jeopardy back home, will likely take the money and just leave.
The program's usefulness remains to be seen, and I can only hope that it doesn't dissuade immigration officials from carefully and fairly reviewing each asylum seeker's case, as no amount of money excuses endangering someone's life.
...from the comments...
What about the people that built this country? Pay taxes all their lives? What about the hard working people that break their backs every single day contributing to Canadian society ? What do we get? NOTHING? instead Canada wantt to give OUR HARD WORKING TAX DOLLARS to people who YOU feel sorry for because they have a easy life when they get here to Canada? As soon as they get here, be it..a plane or a floating door they get everything..and more handed to them on a GOLD platter!!
I agree with all of these comments. Escort them straight back to the airport.
If ANY of us were in THEIR Countries illegally...you know exactly what would happen to us. LET ME TELL YOU CANADA.. WE WONT BE HANDED A PLANE TICKET AND $2000 BUCKS! FORGET IT!
Its time we Canadians need to take a stand. WE could also learn from the Americans about being a little more patriotic and if you want to come to Canada...BE CANADIAN.
FOR Example... I believe I should have every right to say ..."Merry Christmas" to people when im in public...just an example. My roots are born and raised here. HARD HONEST WORK. Politically correct MY A**!!
sorry if anyone finds that offensive but its the truth and im not the only canadian who feels this way!
...more comments at link...