Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says Canada should “certainly” re-establish a diplomatic post in Baghdad particularly to process refugees from the region, a task that has become difficult due to the ongoing conflict in neighbouring Syria.
Kenney, just back from a surprise trip to Iraq, told CTV’s Question Period on Sunday that the number of refugees Canada accepted in 2012 dropped because it was forced to close its embassy in the Syrian capital of Damascus, a central processing point for Iraqi refugee applicants.
In 2009, Canada pledged to accept about 20,000 Iraqi refugees by 2013. So far, only about 12,000 have arrived.
Kenney said that since the embassy in Damascus was closed in May 2012 out of safety concerns, the refugee processing effort has been disrupted.
When asked if Canada should re-establish a diplomatic post in Baghdad, Kenney said “certainly,” adding that Canada “should re-engage in Iraq.” Kenney noted that Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird hopes to travel to the country soon.
“We do have an ambassador who was accredited to the Iraqi government out of Amman, and we have diplomatic staff who are in there every month,” Kenney said. “Establishing an embassy is very expensive because of the security situation, but certainly we're looking at ways that we can re-engage. And that was part of the reason for my visit.”
Canada has not only been scaling back missions around the world, but in late 2012, the government announced an agreement with Britain to establish joint diplomatic missions in an effort to save money.
“To suggest we should open an embassy in Baghdad when the government policy is to close them down, seems to me he's trying to target, at least for some sympathy, certain refugee and immigrant populations in Canada,” NDP MP Jack Harris told CTV News.
Kenney’s trip marked the first time a Canadian minister visited Iraq since 1976. One of his aims was to develop a new plan to resettle Iraqi refugees in Canada, he said.
Due to the ongoing conflict in Syria, Iraqis who initially fled to the country are now being forced to flee again, Kenney said, calling the situation “complex and profoundly unfortunate.”
Last week the United Nations estimated that more than 1 million refugees have fled Syria into neighbouring countries.
“Most of last year we were just administratively unable to process those applications,” he said. “One of the reasons I went into the region was to sort out how we could develop a plan B.
“We are getting back on track through our missions in Ankara, Beirut and Amman. But it’s just not possible to do that immediately when you have to pull up our major processing centre,” he said.
Kenney said another reason why refugee levels in Canada were low in 2012 was due to conflict in East Africa.
The Conservative government has maintained that its aim is to increase refugee levels by 20 per cent. However, the number of refugees who resettled in Canada in 2012 was down 26 per cent from 2011, with an intake around 5,412.
“We don’t control the security environment where we have to operate and when we can’t go into a camp because there’s a civil war or security threat, that really does affect us,” he said.
But Kenney dismissed claims by some of his critics, who suggest that he focuses on the plight of Christians to help build support among the Conservative base, stating that the government is committed to protecting all “vulnerable religious minorities.”
He said that while he was in Iraq he met with Sunni and Shia leaders and other leaders of minority religious communities, as well as Christian leaders.
“This is not about any particular faith community, it’s about our humanitarian obligation,” he said.
With a report from CTV’s Richard Madan and with files from The Canadian Press
