Poste - Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children

family. In cases where no parents or other members of
the family can be found, the child shall be accorded
the same protection as any other child permanently or
temporarily deprived of his or her family environment
for any reason, as set forth in the present Convention.
Interpretation: Article 22 addresses the rights of refugee
children, including those seeking refugee status, to
appropriate protection and humanitarian assistance,
including tracing family members. This article must be
read in conjunction with Article 9 (separation from
parents only when necessary in the child’s best interests),
article 10 (rights to family reunification, to be dealt with
in a positive, humane and expeditious manner), article 20
(protection of children without families), article 37
(deprivation of liberty as a last resort), and article 39
(recovery and rehabilitation). 1
Other Articles to consider include: article 7 (right to
know and be cared for by parents); the general principles
outlined in article 2 (non-discrimination); article 3 (best
interests of the child); article 6 (right to survival and
development); and article 12 (respect for the child’s
views); article 23 (full and decent life for children with a
disability); and article 28 (right to education). 2
Introduction
Canada’s legislation governing refugees is the
Immigration Act. This Act has been described as a
complex patchwork of legislative provisions that lack
coherence and transparency. 3 The Immigration Act does
not set out specific procedures or criteria for dealing
with the claims of children other than that a person be
designated to represent a child in Immigration and
Refugee Board hearings.
Statistics and information are generally unavailable on
child refugees and it very difficult to assess the extent
to which the protection and assistance set out in the
Convention are accorded to child refugees in Canada.
Canada’s International
Obligations
In 1969, Canada signed the United Nations 1951 Geneva
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its
1967 Protocol, which provide the international definition
of refugees. In signing, Canada undertook to protect
refugees who find themselves outside their country and
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unable to return to it for fear of persecution because of race,
religion, nationality, membership in a particular social
group or political opinion.
The 1951 Geneva Convention set
standards that apply to children in the
same way as to adults:
• a child who has a “well-founded fear of being
persecuted” for one of the stated reasons is a
“refugee;”
• a child who holds refugee status cannot be
forced to return to the country of origin (the
principle of non-refoulement);
• no distinction is made between children and a
dults in social welfare and legal rights.
Overview of the Refugee
Determination Process
The United Nations estimates that there are over 30 million
refugees and displaced people in the world. 4 Most of these
refugees live in temporary situations and few are resettled
in another country. In 1996, for example, the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees identified 73,650
refugees needing resettlement; by the end of the year only
28,330 of these refugees were resettled. 5
Annually, Canada resettles about 10,000 refugees from
overseas and contributes $18 million to the Office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 6 While
there “is no established international measure to determine
the extent to which Canada should be providing
resettlement,” 7 Canada selects large numbers in comparison
to other countries 8 and maintains an annual resettlement
quota.
People selected from overseas for resettlement in Canada
can be either government-assisted refugees or privatelysponsored
refugees. The Private Sponsorship Program is
“unique to Canada in allowing private groups to sponsor
refugees from overseas above and beyond the government
program.” 9 Canada has a strong network of organizations
across the country to assist in a refugee’s settlement,
adaptation and integration. 10
When a Convention refugee is selected for resettlement in
Canada, he or she is usually settled with his/her family.