Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s
Forward Regulatory Plan
Regulations amending the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (Refugee Resettlement Program, Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program)
Enabling Act: Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
Description
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada is proposing a regulatory package to undertake various amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations to strengthen the Private Sponsorship of Refugees program. These amendments would enable the department to address program integrity risks, clarify program requirements and enable processing efficiencies.
Firstly, amendments are being proposed to address numerous program integrity issues with the Private Sponsorship of Refugees program which have been identified during program monitoring activities, which, if not addressed, leave the program open to risks of fraud and exploitation.
Amendments to the following regulations are being proposed:
- section 138 Definitions
- subsection 139(1) General Requirements
- subsection 141 (1) Unaccompanied Family Member Amendments
- subsection 153(1) Sponsorship requirements
- subsection 153(4) End of default
- subsection 154(1) Approval of application
- subsection 156(1) Ineligibility to be a party to a sponsorship
The amendments introduce:
- Changes to sponsor eligibility and ineligibility criteria as a means to ensure only those with honest intentions and the required capacity are able to access the program
- Mandating a new training requirement for all sponsors to ensure that they are aware of their sponsorship requirements and their responsibilities and liabilities, the tools that are available to them as sponsors, and recourses when problems arise
- New definitions of sponsorship breakdown and sponsor default, which would clarify authorities for the department to implement disciplinary measures for individuals who fail to meet program requirements
- Clarification that profiting from the sponsorship of a refugee or person in similar circumstances is prohibited.
Secondly this regulatory package would include any consequential amendments stemming from the above noted changes.
Regulatory cooperation efforts (domestic and international)
The proposed regulatory amendments would not require regulatory cooperation with domestic or international partners, though IRCC has consulted with the Province of Quebec to ensure any possibilities for alignment of federal and Quebec resettlement programming is leveraged.
Potential impacts on Canadians, including businesses
The proposed regulatory changes would impact Canadian citizens and permanent residents who wish to sponsor a refugee under the program. They would also impact individuals, including consultants, who currently are able to exploit a regulatory loophole in order to profit from the program. In this way, the regulatory changes would prevent a known means by which some refugees/future permanent residents, are being exploited, which could impact their settlement outcomes.
Consultations
IRCC has consulted stakeholders on proposed changes and is planning additional targeted consultations with key stakeholders (Sponsorship Agreement Holders Council/Association, The Canadian Council For Refugees). Additional consultation through the Canada Gazette is anticipated.
Further information
Internal program compliance data and analysis would be used to support this regulatory initiative. Consideration will need to be given to the public release of such data and analysis to stakeholders given potential privacy concerns.
Departmental contact information
Salena Brickey
Director, Resettlement, Family, and Humanitarian Branch
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Email: Salena.Brickey@cic.gc.ca
Date the regulatory initiative was first included in the Forward Regulatory Plan: April 1, 2021