HAUT-COMMISSARIAT DU CANADA,
DIRECTION DE L'IMMIGRATION,
MACDONALD HOUSE,
38 GROSVENOR STREET,
CANADIAN HIGH COMMISSION, IMMIGRATION DIVISION,
MACDONALD HOUSE,
38 GROSVENOR STREET,
LONDON, WIX OAA
LONDON, W1X DAA
CANADA
Telephone: 01-629 9492 Ext.
Our ref: 5780-3-419
Lord Ennals
Chairman
Asia Committee
The British Refugee Council
Bondway House
3/9 Bondway
London SW8 1SJ
19 February 1985
Dear Lord Ennals,
The High Commissioner, the Honourable Donald Jamieson, has asked me to reply to your letter of 7 February 1985 concerning your request for written assurance that Canada would accept greater numbers of refugees from Hong Kong if the United Kingdom were to increase the numbers it accepted for resettlement from Hong Kong.
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Canada hopes that other countries will do their part to reduce the number of refugees in Hong Kong. It is only through international burden sharing in its broadest terms that the residual population of refugees in Hong Kong will find new homes in countries of final settle- ment. Canada has resettled over 16,000 refugees from Hong Kong since 1975 a record that is second only to that of the United States. Last year over 800 places were made available for government assisted refugees. In addition, there is no limit to the number of refugees and designated class immigrants who may be sponsored by private groups or individuals in Canada provided that the refugees and their sponsors meet the criteria for selection and settlement which are set out in the Immigration Act and Regulations. In recognition of these efforts, the Hong Kong authorities have indicated their appreciation and expressed the hope that other resettlement countries would follow the Canadian example.
Canada will continue to do everything in its power to promote humane and lasting solutions to the refugee problem in South East Asia. Our proposed refugee intake for 1985 reflects this concern by increasing from 3,000 to 3,700 the allocation for government-assisted refugees from South East Asia.
Although the distribution of this allocation has not been firmly established, refugee immigration levels allocated to Hong Kong are not linked to nor conditional upon other countries accepting greater numbers
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