Rainbow Refugee Committee www.rainbowrefugee.ca

1. The Precarity of LGBTQ Refugee Protection: Advocacy & Community work under PCISA Rainbow Refugee Committee www.rainbowrefugee.ca Sharalyn Jordan, PhD Assistant Professor Counselling Psychology Simon Fraser University

13. Precarity of Refugee Protection Protecting Canada’s Immigration System Act (Bill C-31) • Detention & Delayed Permanent Residence for “Irregular Arrivals” • Tight & rigid deadlines for filing application ( BOC at 15 days) and Hearing (60 days) • 30 day hearing and no access to appeal for “DCO” nationals • PRRA and H&C Ban RRC Briefs to Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration on C-11, C-4 and C-31; to Senate Committee on C-31 available rainbowrefugee.ca

14. Precarity of Community Supports Interim Federal Health Program cut –June 2012 BC/CIC Settlement Service Realignment Agreement Cancelled • announced April 1 2012 • effective April 1 2013

15. Persistence Under Persecution it was the vigilante groups it was the villagers it was the uncles it was the entire system it was the the guy I was working for who would scream in front of his clients Kandu it was everywhere it was in the buses it was in the taxis it was in the bars it was everywhere it’s like.…its like a game you enjoy while you are hidden, but once you come into the picture, once you come into the mainstream… you’re bringing yourself attention for violence. Jamil, 25 gay identified man Convention Refugee In Jordan, 2010 Un/Settling,

16. Persistence Under Persecution Manifestations of Homophobic/Transphobic Persecution Isolating/Hidden • Erasure from public • Stigma as evil, mentally ill, or deviant • Sexualized violence Pervasive • Violence/Harrassment/Surveillance often starting in families, dispersed across communities, institutions & state actors • Targeting by political, religious leaders & media • Criminalization in 80 countries, Death Penalty in 5 (Ottoson 2008; Jordan, 2009; ILGA, 2013)

17. Persistence Under Persecution Implications of Homophobic/Transphobic Persecution Survival Patterns of: • Trying /denying available identities • Seeking out/avoiding similar others • Conforming/hiding/escaping(Jordan, 2010) Internalized Oppression & Complex Trauma • Vigilance/mistrust • Shame & emotion disregulation • interferes with help-seeking & trust in relationships • trauma memory interference (Briere, 2005; Herlihy, Brewin & Turner, 2009)

18. Accessing Refugee Protection Intersectional im/mobilities: • race, documented sex, gender variance, class • Global south/north, Geopolitical • Making people Illegal (Dauvergne, 2008) Obscurity of LGBT Refugee Protection • Viability of protection for sexual orientation & gender identity? • Who is safe to ask? Precarious status/Irregular paths • Fuels exploitation, violence and (re)traumatization • Creates credibility issues in hearings

19. Accessing Refugee Protection Implications of PCISA-Designated Foreign Nationals Irregular Arrivals • Detained, in BC Jailed, with reviews at 14 days and 6 months • Denied Right of Appeal • 5 year delay for Permanent Residency

20. Accessing Refugee Protection Implications of PCISA –Detention Human Rights & Safety Legal representation & Community supports Mental health impacts Vulnerability & Credibility in hearings

21. Accessing Refugee Protection Implications of PCISA – Timelines • Income/Shelter precarityuntil Basis of Claim & documents submitted at eligibility interview • SILVERLINING moment! • Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity named on IRB guide and forms

22. Accessing Refugee Protection Implications of PCISA – Timelines • Time with lawyers is crunched • Retrieving documentation entails risk • Narrating trauma under pressure • Not disclosing or activating trauma symptoms

23. Giving an Account • How to prove hidden persecution? • Working with/against western identity categories & assumptions • Psychological consequences of complex trauma interfere with coherent narratives • SILVERLINING moment! Inclusion of LGBTI in Guildeline 8 • BUT, refugee mental health supports in BC gutted

24. Giving an Account • Enhanced skills and sensitivity among WR IRB • Still “luck of the draw” • More involvement by Minister (48% in WR)

25. Designated Country of Origin List Violates equality before the law • Denies right of appeal • Expedites to an impossible timeline Fails to consider: • Flux & paradox in country conditions • Safety/Risk intersectionally constituted

26. No Safety Net against Refoulement No Right of Appeal for many • DCO & Irregular arrivals • 15 days to file & perfect Ban on H&C for 36 months Removals enforceable before Judicial Review or PRRA

27. thank you sjordan@sfu.ca

29. Rainbow Refugee Committeewww.rainbowrefugee.ca

30. Research/Advocacy Jordan, S.R. (2010). Un/Settling: ACriticalEthnographicInquiryintosettlementbyrefugeesmakingclaimsbasedonsexualorientationorgenderidentitypersecution. (Dissertation). UniversityofBritishColumbia, Vancouver, BC. https://circle.ubc.ca/handle/2429/30526. Jordan, S.R. (2009). Un/Convention(al) Refugees: Contextualizingthe accounts of refugees facing homophobic or transphobic persecution. Refuge: Canada’speriodicalonrefugees,26(2), 165-182. Jordan, S.R.& Morrissey, C. (2010, May). RainbowRefugeeCommitteeRespondstoBill C-11 onRefugeeReform: ImpactofproposedamendmentstotheImmigrationandRefugeeProtectionActonrefugeeclaimantswhohavesurvivedsexualorientationorgenderidentitypersecution.PolicybriefpresentedtotheStandingCommitteeonCitizenshipandImmigrationhearingsonBill C-11, May 27, 2010, Ottawa, ON.

31. Rainbow Refugee: Our Story 1992 2000 2011

32. Homophobic/Transphobic Persecution • Erasure from public • Dispersed Violence/Surveillance, often starting in families • Sexualized violence • Stigma as evil, mentally ill, perverse