US embassy cable - 03OTTAWA1487

UNCLAS OTTAWA 001487 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR PRM (KENNELLY) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF, SMIG, CA, CIC 
SUBJECT: CANADA'S INTENTIONS REGARDING SAFE THIRD COUNTRY 
SIDE LETTER 
 
REF: STATE 123874 
 
1. (U) Summary: In a meeting on May 23, officials with 
Citizenship and Immigration Canada told poloffs that while 
Canada is prepared to meet its commitments concerning the 
resettlement of refugees under its Safe Third Country 
Agreement with the United States, it will not begin to do so 
until that agreement is fully implemented by the U.S. End 
summary. 
 
2.  (U) Poloffs met on May 23 with Daniel Jean, Acting 
Assistant Deputy Minister for Policy and Program Development 
at Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), and Bruce 
Scoffield, Director of the Refugees Branch in Policy and 
Program Development, to convey the points set out reftel. 
While we had initially requested a meeting with CIC Deputy 
Minister Michel Dorrais, we were referred to Acting ADM Jean. 
Jean said Canada is prepared to set in motion the process 
necessary to for resettlement of refugees referred to Canada 
by the U.S., as proposed in the side letter to the Safe Third 
Country agreement, once that agreement has been fully 
implemented by the U.S. Jean said he had heard it will be 
several months before the safe third regulations are 
published in the U.S., and commented "we are becoming very 
impatient" with this delay.  Jean complained that the U.S. 
had asked Canada to take a number of actions following 
September 11, and Canada had responded quickly to those 
requests; the Safe Third Country agreement was the one thing 
Canada asked of the U.S., and it has not yet been completed. 
 
3.  (U) With respect to the issue of resettling interdicted 
Cubans now located at Guantanamo, Jean indicated that GOC 
views Guantanamo as Cuban territory, and therefore Canada 
cannot accept such persons under current regulations as that 
would constitute in-country processing for refugees. 
Scoffield noted that third country nationals located at 
Guantanamo, such as Haitians, can be resettled in Canada. 
Referring to Michael Smith's May 19 letter to DAS Ryan, Jean 
emphasized that Canada wants to see procedures set in place 
for the referral of refugee cases by the U.S., and is ready 
to meet with the U.S. to begin discussing such procedures. 
Jean also stated that Canada would like to include the policy 
implications of refugee resettlement in a broader dialogue 
with the U.S. on humanitarian issues, another point made in 
Smith's letter. 
CELLUCCI