World Renew Canadian Director Speaks to Parliamentary Committee

Ida Kaastra-Mutoigo, director of World Renew in Canada, recently spoke to a parliamentary committee in Ottawa, Ont., and encouraged Canada’s leaders to sign an international agreement on immigrants and refugees.

Kaastra-Mutoigo received the invitation to speak to the committee because of World Renew’s membership in ACT (Action by Churches Together), for which she serves on the governing board and executive committee. ACT is an international alliance of about 150 churches and faith-based organizations that work together in over 125 countries to address issues of migration, displacement, human rights, poverty, and resilience.

Addressing the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration on Nov. 22, 2018, Kaastra-Mutoigo encouraged the Canadian government to sign on to the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (GCM).

The goal of the GCM is to enable migration — especially for the most vulnerable — to be more predictable and manageable, no matter where it is happening in the world. By encouraging all member states of the United Nations to sign it, the compact seeks to protect the rights of all migrants throughout their journey and resettlement.

The compact was written with the aim to address root causes of migration, such as violence or natural disasters, as well as to protect people in transit. It seeks to ensure access to services, prevent human trafficking and smuggling, and create collaboration between nations and agencies in its implementation.

In her presentation to the committee, Kaastra-Mutoigo stressed that Canada has a reputation as a welcoming country that cares about humanitarian issues and works to give aid when it is needed.

“For Canada to keep its reputation of care and compassion for migrants and refugees who have come out of distressed situations would be a blessing,” she noted.

She also addressed questions about potential costs and noted that because the compact is state led and reaffirms state sovereignty, there is no real threat to signing it. In addition, she pointed out, the long-term success and contributions of immigrants and refugees who have come to Canada already prove that there is value in supporting migrants.

While some Canadian officials feared that signing the compact would give foreign entities too much influence over Canadian immigration, the compact is not legally binding. Signing it could not force the Canadian government to do or change any of its policies.

At the same time, signing a compact like this can act as an encouragement and a reminder to member states to live up to commitments made in other treaties and laws, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Mike Hogeterp of the Christian Reformed Centre for Public Dialogue noted that having Canada sign the compact assists him and others in holding people accountable by giving them something to point to.

“Sometimes governments use noble words to paint a picture of all of the good things that they plan to do. A document like this global compact gives supporters of just migration something concrete to point to as we encourage governments to follow through on promises made,” he said.

The United States, Australia, and Hungary indicated early on that they would not sign the GCM. They cited various reasons including the fact that signing the agreement could undermine recent policies they’ve made to deter asylum seekers to their countries. 

Some opposition politicians in Canada also recommended that Canada not sign the GCM. Their concerns centered on a notion  that the compact will limit Canadian sovereignty in migration policy. Other leaders, including a former Conservative Minister of Immigration, have suggested that these concerns are unfounded. The GCM is a non-binding and cooperative agreement to address critical migration challenges that specifically affirms state sovereignty in migration policy.

Canada and 163 other nations signed the compact on Dec. 10 (Human Rights Day) at the Intergovernmental Conference on the Global Compact for Migration, in Marrakech, Morocco.