New Temporary and Permanent Resident Pathways for Children in Care
Over the last one and a half years, there has been a coalition of advocates, Our System, Our Children, Our Responsibility1 (OSOCOR), requesting changes to the federal immigration system. The proposed changes would benefit individuals who are or were in out-of-home care and need to regularize their immigration status or are facing barriers in obtaining permanent residency. In addition, the recommended changes to immigration policy ensured vulnerable individuals facing deportation would have reprieve. This builds on a temporary resident permit pathway2 opened last fall.
In January, Federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced a temporary public policy to grant permanent residence to certain individuals in Canada who came to Canada under the age of 19 and were under the legal responsibility of the child protection system3. The new policy ensures a pathway for those who are eligible for permanent residence based on residency requirements, however face a barrier that makes them inadmissible. This change recognizes that not all individuals who came to Canada as a child have been able to obtain permanent residency (or citizenship) and some were in out-of-home care.
After the announcement, I caught up with Danette Edwards, who is Acting General Counsel of BLAC (Black Legal Action Centre). Their organization played an instrumental role in steering the OSOCOR coalition, whose central requests of the government have been:
1. Provide a path to citizenship for all people who came to Canada as children and spent any period of their childhood in a child welfare agency, foster family, or kinship care;
2. Suspend the enforcement of any removal order against people who came to Canada as children and spent any period of their childhood in a child welfare agency, foster family, or kinship care; and
3. Provide an expedited pathway to permanent resident status through a public policy.
Ms. Edwards shared, “After years of concerted law reform efforts and advocacy by OSOCOR, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship recently announced that he has created a pathway for citizenship for those formerly caught up in the child welfare system through no fault of their own”. She further stated, “OSOCOR recognizes that it is a time-limited policy and its members are hopeful that Senator Mobina Jaffer’s proposed Bill S-235, which seeks to create a permanent citizenship pathway, will be passed”. CWICE and the OSOCOR coalition all support Bill S-235, working its way through the Senate this year, as it would create a permanent solution and citizenship pathway.
Nonetheless, this temporary policy is a significant milestone in Canada. We applaud the work of the OSOCOR coalition under BLAC’s leadership. We believe the needs of children and youth have been made more visible in this policy. Of particular note, the application fees will be waived as a requirement of this application.
CWICE’s centralized consultation centre is available to assist child welfare professionals, children/youth, foster caregivers and other supports to assess eligibility in this policy for children, youth, and young adults born outside Canada. Also, we can assist in the application process, to ensure individuals obtain permanent residency through this new pathway. Our services remain available for individuals formerly in care, who may not currently receive services from child welfare organizations.
CWICE contact information:
Email: CWICE@peelcas.org
Phone: 905-363-6131 ext. 2222
Web: www.cwice.ca
For more information about BLAC, please visit: Home - Black Legal Action Centre | Legal Services for Black Ontarians
Related news:
2 Temporary resident permit for foreign nationals who were in state care - Canada.ca
About the author:
Danielle Ungara, RSW (she/her, grateful to be on Treaty 13 land) co-manages the Child Welfare Immigration Centre of Excellence (CWICE) at Peel CAS. CWICE offers services across Ontario, provides training and research nationally, and operates an international consultation centre. Danielle is an inclusive leader of integrity and thought leader on many system issues. She believes in furthering social justice outcomes and equity through service excellence and research.
