Canada has been lauded for its generosity in striving to welcome and resettle some 25,000 Syrian refugees over the coming months, a stark contrast to our neighbours south of the border. However, critics have expressed concern about whether such a large scale resettlement project can be undertaken in a safe and responsible way within such a short timeline.
In response to recent security concerns, Canada has limited the immigration flow to women, children and families and excluded single males – a decision applauded by some and criticized by others as being discriminatory. And, while providing asylum to 25,000 displaced Syrians is a good start, it pales in comparison to the hundreds of thousands of refugees taken in by European countries and the Middle East.
On Tuesday, February 2, our panel of experts addressed these critical issues regarding the influx of Syrian refugees to Canada and also discussed what this mass diaspora means for Canadians and for future Canadian immigration and refugee policies.
Presented by the Peter A. Allard School of Law, in partnership with alumni UBC
This event took place on February 2, Tuesday 2016, 5:30-8:00pm at CBC Studio 700, 700 Hamilton Street, Vancouver BC.
Moderator
Daniel Getz, JD’10, Executive Producer, CBC News Network with Ian Hanomansing
Panelists
Dr. Catherine Dauvergne, LLB’95, Dean, Peter A. Allard School of Law and an expert in the area of refugee, immigration and citizenship law.
Dr. Dan Hiebert, Professor, UBC Department of Geography and an expert on international migration including everything from Canadian immigration policy and security concerns to the integration of newcomers into Canada’s urban centres.
Mr. Chris Friesen, Director of Settlement Services, Immigrant Services Society of BC. who is leading a multi-year initiative to design and build a Metro Vancouver Regional Service Centre for Refugees.
Panelist Biographies
Daniel Getz, JD’10, Executive Producer, CBC News Network with Ian Hanomansing
Daniel Getz is the executive producer of CBC News Network with Ian Hanomansing, a newscast that airs three times nightly, tracking the latest national and international stories as they develop and unfold. Getz’s journalism career at the CBC has spanned more than 15 years, in roles such as researcher, reporter, field producer, senior show producer and now executive producer. He has also produced award-winning federal and provincial election specials. Getz returned to journalism in 2012, after a brief stint working as a litigator with an interest in media law in a large downtown firm in Vancouver. He is a graduate of the Peter A. Allard School of Law, the B.C. Institute of Technology, the London School of Economics and McGill University. Getz is also an instructor in the journalism program at BCIT, teaching media law to broadcast journalism students.
Catherine Dauvergne, LLB’95, Dean, Peter A. Allard School of Law
Catherine took up the Deanship of the Peter A. Allard School of Law in July 2015. Professor Dauvergne has been working in the area of refugee, immigration, and citizenship law for twenty years. She has written three books that take a broad perspective on the theoretical underpinnings of these areas of law, including considering how human rights principles and discourses fit into a migration and citizenship framework. Dauvergne has recently held a major research grant examining the failure of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms to protect non-citizens. She is currently working on an Australian Research Council grant analyzing gendered aspects of refugee determination. From 2013 to 2015, Dauvergne was the Research Director for the Michigan Colloquium on Challenges to International Refugee Law. In 2012, Catherine Dauvergne was made a Fellow of the Trudeau Foundation in recognition of her contributions to public discourse in Canada. Her book The New Politics of Immigration and the End of Settler Societies will be published by Cambridge University Press early in 2016.
Dan Hiebert, Professor, UBC Department of Geography
Dan Hiebert has two main research interests. The first, and most important to him, is international migration. At the broadest scale, this includes the issue of policy and regulatory systems and how they shape migration, and also how people become mobile, with or without the consent of states. Hiebert tries to understand Canadian immigration policy within this wider context, and consider it in relation to the policies of other countries, especially in Europe and Australasia. At the local scale he studies the consequences of immigration in Canadian cities, highlighting Vancouver’s situation (with a foreign-born population approaching one million). More specifically, he looks at the integration of newcomers in the labour and housing markets of cities, and how this changes their residential structure and social relations. This work is highly integrated with public policy, and Hiebert participates in advisory roles at the local and national level in Canada, and also has regular interaction with government agencies in several other countries. Second, he is working with a large network of scholars on the issue of national security and its relationship with human rights and is particularly interested in the way this relationship evolves in a society like Canada’s, with a high degree of ethno-cultural diversity and strong transnational connections.
Mr. Chris Friesen, Director of Settlement Services, Immigrant Services Society of BC.
Chris Friesen has been the Director of Settlement Services, Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISS of BC), one of Canada’s largest multicultural immigrant serving agencies, for over 20 years. He is a frequent speaker on a wide range of immigrant and refugee settlement related topics both in Canada and abroad. Chris is currently leading a multi-year initiative to design and build a Metro Vancouver Regional Service Centre for refugees located in Vancouver. In spring 2016, this 58,000 square foot facility will become the first facility of its kind in the world, bringing together a variety of community and government services and organizations that will meet the immediate needs of refugees settling in BC. Among his many community leadership roles, Chris is currently President and a founding member of the Canadian Immigrant Settlement Sector Alliance (CISSA/ACSEI) as well as co-chair of the National Settlement Council. During 2013 Mr. Friesen was the NGO Focal Point for the UNHCR 2013 Annual Tripartite Consultations on Resettlement in Geneva, Switzerland.
Select Articles and Books Available at UBC Library
Adelman, H., York University (Toronto, Ont.). Centre for Refugee Studies, & Center for Migration Studies (U.S.). (1991). Refugee policy: Canada and the united states (1st ed.). Staten Island, N.Y;Toronto;: Centre for Refugee Studies, York University. [Available at Koerner Library – JV7243 .R44 1991]
HeinOnline U.S. Congressional Documents Library. (2013). Examining the syrian refugee crisis: Hearing before the subcommittee on the middle east and north africa of the committee on foreign affairs, house of representatives, one hundred thirteenth congress, first session [Link]
UBC Library Research Guides