Just saw this petition/letter-writing campaign in a newsletter from Citizens for Public Justice. Appears to be a joint effort with several groups. I can’t imagine why a country like Canada is still charging refugees for travel expenses – it is definitely time to make some significant changes to this system, and give our newcomers a warm welcome to Canada. 🙂
See text and link below.
“We all want refugees to settle well in Canada–to learn one of our official languages, find jobs, become integrated into communities. But Canada currently asks refugees to pay back the money that the government spent on their travel to Canada.
The evidence shows that these immigration travel loans have a negative impact on refugees’ ability to settle well. The pressure to pay them back can make it difficult to pay for necessities, push refugees to find jobs before they’ve completed their language training, and add unneeded stress to already stressful transitions.
The government knows this–which is why they just stopped charging interest on the loans. But it would cost just 40 cents per Canadian to stop asking refugees to repay these loans entirely.
We all want refugees to settle well in Canada–and for just 40 cents per Canadian, we can do it.
Ask the Minister of Immigration and your MP to exempt refugees from travel loan repayment!”
https://p2a.co/MZlo7zc?utm_source=justicENEWS&utm_campaign=7184a5d597-JEN_CAMPAIGN_2017_11_26&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_00b7fceacb-7184a5d597-100929949
Ask Parliament to End Refugee Travel Loan Repayment
