Church leaders encouraged by meeting with Immigration Minister

Catholic New Times, Oct 24, 2004

OTTAWA (CCN) -- Canadian church leaders and Immigration Minister Judy Sgro are to begin discussions in mid-October on ways to improve the refugee determination system to protect people whose lives may be in danger if they are deported.

The leaders and representatives of other stakeholder groups met privately with Sgro in Ottawa Sept. 29 at the Minister's invitation. The church groups are worried about her appeal this summer for the churches to stop granting sanctuary to failed refugee claimants because of the risk of harboring criminals and terrorists.

"It was a very positive meeting," Archbishop Brendan O'Brien, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, told CCN following the meeting." It was a chance to clarify some things and we are looking forward to another meeting."

"We had asked, of course, for a merit-based appeal process and we're still asking for that," said O'Brien. "I think that in the discussions to come that we'll be able to enlarge on that."

Mary Corkery, executive director of KAIROS, a Canadian ecumenical justice coalition, told CCN that the meeting was positive. "The minister expressed her appreciation for the churches' role in terms in protecting refugees and agreed to collaborate with us," she said.

Mary Jo Leddy of the Ontario Sanctuary Coalition came out of the meeting with Sgro hopeful-that changes will be made. "I think it was a very good meeting," she said. "It was established that the churches and the immigration department "all want to protect refugees that are in danger, and so there's a commitment to work together to try to ensure that happens."