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Dear colleagues,
Please consider supporting James and Shelley's initiative to overhaul SFU's policy for refugee students, which is: (a) seriously lacking; (b) not very hard or expensive to fix,
as the letter below explains.
If you agree, you can sign in support here:
https://forms.gle/CZGwgwYyuQhMQ2xq8
Thanks!
Lucas Herrenbrueck
James Prier & Shelley Mason 3441 Dundas Street Vancouver, B.C. V5K 1R9 email: jwprier@yahoo.com
May 20, 2021
Dr. Joy Johnson, President Simon Fraser University 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, B.C. V5A 1S6 BY EMAIL
Dear Dr. Johnson, Simon Fraser University should take the lead in supporting Canada’s student refugee population by becoming Western Canada’s first academic institution to reduce fees for refugee applicants and any international students who can establish that they are Convention Refugees in accordance with the UN and Canadian IRCC definition as displayed on SFU’s Refugee and Newcomer Advisory Committee web page. In Late 2019, my wife Shelley Mason and I met with SFU’s then senior administration to advance our proposal to waive International Student fees for refugee applicants and other students able to provide evidence they qualified as Convention Refugees but who, for various reasons, had not or could not apply for asylum protection. This initiative originated through our experience bringing an Afghan Hazara refugee to Canada under a Canada Study Permit. For Afghan refugees living in Pakistan, the wait time for Canadian refugee sponsorship is three years or longer, assuming there is a Canadian Special Agreement Holder and sponsoring group able to raise the funds support them financially and to submit a comprehensive application to Canada Immigration. Without a Study Permit (visa), this young woman would have had to delay her academic advancement for many years or, more likely, abandon it altogether. Also, she would have continued at serious risk in Pakistan while she waited for IRCC approval because her ethnic and religious minority (Hazara/Shia) are persecuted and murdered in Pakistan as well as Afghanistan. Admirably, SFU already works with World University Services of Canada, funding refugee students. However, all these individuals have received UNHCR refugee status, allowing more rapid entry into Canada. Unfortunately, many bona fide refugees cannot benefit from this program. For example, four years ago, the UNHCR ceased providing refugee status to Afghans living as refugees in Pakistan, despite the escalation of violence in Afghanistan and the numerous massacres of the Hazara ethnic group in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The same is true of Afghans and Iranians finding temporary refuge in Turkey. In December 2020, our student applied to Canada Immigration for protection. She then requested a reduction of SFU her tuition to parity with BC residents. She provided all relevant documentation including the fact that her aunt and two uncles had all received protection as Convention Refugees in Canada and the United States, respectively. We were shocked when SFU rejected our student’s request, requiring her to continue to pay International Student tuition rates. This policy places a punitive financial burden on one of the university’s most vulnerable groups. After five months, she is still waiting for a hearing before the Refugee Board. York University has had a refugee tuition waiver policy in place for three years. With a student enrollment 30% larger than SFU’s, York has reduced tuition for approximately 17 refugee students each year, thus putting to rest concerns that SFU will be swamped with requests for tuition relief. York has procedures in place for vetting student requests. Our understanding is there have been no fraudulent claims over the course of York’s initiative. Furthermore, once a refugee applicant’s claim is denied by IRCC, they must leave Canada unless there is strong basis for an appeal. This acts as a ‘circuit breaker’ on spurious claims. SFU’s international students may be from diverse geographic and ethnic backgrounds. However, their socioeconomic status is homogenous and elite. Otherwise, they would not meet Immigration Canada’s financial requirements for a Study Permit. As part of SFU’s support for diversity, inclusiveness, and protection of minorities it should support and encourage refugees to advance academically by adopting the following programs: 1. Establish a policy to charge tuition at provincial domestic rates for stateless persons and refugee claimants, with the Refugee and Newcomer Advisory Committee acting as the reviewing body. 2. Establish a fund to offer bursaries and scholarships to qualified refugee candidates in support of constituent groups sponsoring refugee families (or individuals) under the IRCC’s Group of Five and Private Sponsorship Programs. 3. Apply to the IRCC to have Simon Fraser University become a Special Agreement Holder to enable direct sponsorship of refugees by the University with financial support from faculty, students, alumni, and community donors. 4. Establish a SFU scholarship and bursary fund for demonstrably disadvantaged refugees. We propose to convene a group of SFU supporters, including professors, administrators, and present and former students to establish a funding initiative. 5. Provide expertise and support to international students who may be forced by emerging situations in their countries of origin to seek asylum protection in Canada. Through these initiatives, SFU can categorically demonstrate its commitment to supporting the protection and academic advancement of these vulnerable and traumatized students, enabling them to achieve their fullest potential as Canadian citizens. We look forward to meeting with you and Simon Fraser University’s Refugee and Newcomer Advisory Committee at the earliest convenient time to discuss this initiative. Sincerely, James Prier Shelley Mason cc: Anne Giardini, former Chancellor Catherine Dauvergne, Vice President, Academic, and Provost Shaheen Nanji, Chair, Refugee and Newcomer Community Engagement Erin Morantz, Vice-President, Advancement and Alumni Engagement James B. Stewart, Board Chair Donna Vuchinich, Sr. Executive Director, University Advancement Daniel Shapiro, Dean Emeritus, Beadie Business School Stuart Poyntz, Associate Dean, School of Communication Anke Kessler, Board member Lucas Herrenbrueck, Assoc. Professor Economics
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