An Important Challenge – Resettling Syrian Refugees

Olivier Jacques, Senior Director of Geographic Operations, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, and former Director of the Canadian Operations Centre in Amman, Jordan, explains what it was like setting up temporary processing centres and working with partners to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees.

Transcript: An Important Challenge – Resettling Syrian Refugees

Video length: 1:50

Light music plays.

An image fades in of refugees making their way through a border crossing. A man is holding a baby.

Text appears: Operation Syrian Refugees – Phase 2

The image fades to black and turns into a blurred background.

Text appears: An Important Challenge – Resettling Syrian Refugees

Screen fades to black and music stops.

Transition to a man speaking to the camera. There is a television screen in the background that reads #WelcomeRefugees.

Text appears: Olivier Jacques, Senior Director of Geographic Operations, IRCC. Former Director of the Canadian Operations Centre in Amman, IRCC.

olivier jacques: It may never have been done before, we … the department had never done this … had never had this experience before, in fact, as far as we’re aware, no other country has ever done this in such a limited time frame. Actually, it was … We made history with this project, and we’re an inspiration for many other countries.

Cuts to an image of IRCC employees gathered together at a Welcome Center preparing to welcome refugees. The image mixes to a sign that reads “Bienvenue au Canada, Welcome to Canada.” The image mixes to a picture of a control centre with many workers consulting each other. The image cuts back to Olivier.

olivier jacques: I’ve talked with colleagues from the United States, from France, from England, who were interested in the Canadian model, because no country had ever brought in this many refugees in so little time, and they wanted to know how we did it.

Cuts to an image of two signs. The signs read: ASFC – CBSA / IRCC. The image cuts back to Olivier.

olivier jacques: We are an example for the entire world and we combined many steps of this process. First, refugees were asked to fill certain forms, they were interviewed, medical exams were conducted.

Cuts to an image of a couple reading through documents at a Canadian border crossing. The image then cuts to a family being interviewed. They’re smiling and speaking with an interpreter. The image then cuts to a border agent speaking with a couple. The image fades back to Olivier.

olivier jacques: All of that happened in the same place. This is a new way of doing things, and all of the work done behind the scenes, what is called the “back office.” All that work was done not only in Amman and Beirut, but also in many visa offices abroad. Our visa offices in Mexico City, Paris and Warsaw were also involved, and a tremendous contribution was made by our … our [Centralized Processing Region] colleagues, as well, who lent a hand in processing these applications.

Cuts to a picture of a female IRCC employee working at a computer in a control center. The image cuts to another female employee scanning a computer screen. The image fades back to Olivier.

olivier jacques: So, it was truly … it was a great way of working, to overcome the considerable challenges with that project.

The screen fades to black.

The Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada corporate signature along with the copyright message “Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 2020.” are shown on screen followed by the “Canada” wordmark.