US embassy cable - 05KINGSTON2508

UNCLAS KINGSTON 002508 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CAR, PRM/POP (GEHRING), PRM/ECA (IRIS) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CA, CU, HA, PREF, SMIG, JM, Haiti 
SUBJECT: TRANSMITTAL OF APPLICATIONS FOR PERMANENT 
RESIDENCE IN CANADA 
 
REF: A. STATE 198777 
 
     B. POWELL/GEHRING 11/3 TELCON 
 
This message is Sensitive but Unclassified (SBU).  Please 
handle accordingly. 
 
1. (SBU) Upon receipt of IOM package containing applications 
for Canadian resettlement for 17 Cubans and one Haitian 
currently under U.S. protection at U.S. Naval Station, 
Guantanamo Bay (Ref A), Polcouns met on November 3 with 
Carina Parnham, Counselor and Manager (Immigration), Canadian 
High Commission, to deliver the applications.  Parnham said 
that she had been expecting the application for the Haitian, 
having been informed of the case by Ottawa some three weeks 
earlier, but that the Cuban applications caused her 
considerable surprise. 
 
2. (SBU) Parnham agreed to accept the Haitian application 
"with no problem," but added that Canada could not accept the 
Cubans for resettlement because they did not meet the Geneva 
Convention's definition of a refugee as an individual not in 
his/her country of residence or nationality.  Polcouns 
emphasized that all 19 migrants had been determined to have a 
well-founded fear of persecution, a point Parnham did not 
dispute, and explained U.S. interest in seeking Canadian 
resettlement in order to discourage intending migrants from 
undertaking illegal and dangerous attempts to reach U.S. 
Naval Station Guantanamo.  Parnham replied, however, that 
Canadian law did not permit the GOC to accept the Cubans 
under these circumstances because "they are still in Cuba." 
She agreed to hold onto all of the applications with the 
understanding that she was doing so only until receiving 
instructions from Ottawa on the matter. 
 
3. (SBU) On November 4, Parnham telephoned Polcouns to inform 
him that the 18 Cuban applications for resettlement were 
being sent to Citizenship and Immigration Department 
headquarters, Ottawa, for return to the Department via the 
Canadian Embassy in Washington. 
TIGHE