Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you. Yes, I do believe that they should be waived and I believe there are ways to make sure that.... I know that Canada is also concerned with safety and there are other measures that can be put in place to make sure that we are bringing people in safely and we're also protecting Canadian society in that way.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I believe that the emergency response that Canada had with the Ukrainian crisis, which was made flexible and allowed a lot of people to enter the country with a lot of flexibility and then get settlement services, should be applied equitably to other crisis situations. In this case it should be applied to the Afghanistan situation and the LGBTQ people, those who are still inside Afghanistan but also those who have made it out, so that we can bring them to safety in Canada either through the PSR program or through an emergency program that allows them to come with flexibility and then deal with their applications and their processing more from the inside of Canada.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you. I imagine you are talking about the the joint assistance sponsorship program.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The joint assistance sponsorship program is designed especially to bring in people who may have more challenges settling in Canada. They come as government-assisted refugees, and then IRCC has a partnership with a community organization and that community organization provides emotional support and other settlement supports to the person.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, thank you. I just wanted to add that I believe that an ombudsperson would really help in this matter in addressing where we can go when we're seeing there's systemic racism at play, but I also want to emphasize that as we go upwards into the directorship and management levels of IRCC, we don't see ourselves represented.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you very much. On behalf of Rainbow Refugee Society, thank you for the opportunity to address the committee. Sharalyn Jordan and I are joining you from the unceded and traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations. Rainbow Refugee Society is the proud steward of the national rainbow refugee assistance partnership.