Yazidi groups say they were left in the dark on Canada's resettlement plan
Tight-knit Yazidi communities are clustered primarily in Winnipeg and London, Ont.
Yazidi groups in Canada say they've been kept in the dark on the government's resettlement plan despite the critical role they could play in supporting the new arrivals.
On Tuesday, Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen held a news conference to unveil a government planto resettle 1,200 Yazidis and other victims of ISIS by the end of 2017, saying that nearly 400 had already arrived. Of those, about 74 per cent are Yazidi.
TheYazidisare a religious minority with an ancient 6,000-year-old culture,based mainly in northern Iraq.
HadjiHessoof the CanadianYazidiAssociation ispart of a close-knit network ofadvocates who keep in regular contact. He says he didnot hear of any government-sponsored arrivals before the last few days.
"We have no way of knowing where those people are or how they were brought in. It's a mystery to us," he said.
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The government hasbeen tight-lipped on the resettlement steps, and would say only that theYazidisare expected to settle in cities in Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario and possibly other provinces.
The operation, which began four months ago after MPs unanimously adopted a Conservative motion to bring inYazidis,has been kept under tight wraps due to security and privacy issues, according to the government.
Prior to the government's initiative, most of the small, tight-knit Yazidi population in Canadahas been clustered in Winnipeg and London, Ont., with some in the Toronto area as well.
Small community
Hesso, who's based in Winnipeg, wonders how and whyhundreds ofYazidiswere brought in without their knowledge, and questioned why the government did not seek the community'sresettlement assistance.
"We are a small minority, almost everyone knows everyone," he said, adding that they want to help, and would actually take pressure off the government.
Hesso, a Yazidi from northern Iraq who lived as a refugee in Syria for a decade before coming to Canada in 2000,welcomed the government's initiative to provide asylum to the vulnerable survivors of ISIS.
"That means 1,200 will be in a safe zone, and itwill call on other nations to do something," he said.
'Untransparent' process
In Toronto, the executive director of an organization running aproject to privately sponsorYazidi refugees was also wondering why so many were left out of theloop, calling the process "untransparent" and "cloak and dagger."
In an interview on CBC News Network's Power & Politics, Mozuud executive director Geoffrey Clarfieldsaid the community of advocates and activists is plugged-in to the Yazidi-Canadian community, yet no one had heard about the arrivals.
He said the secrecy may not be in the best interest of Yazidis in Iraq or Canada.
"The understanding of the government is that they're supposed to be integrated into the community so if the community leaders don't know who they are and where they are, it's puzzling," he told host Rosemary Barton.
An official inHussen's office said a key factor in determining where individuals will go once in Canada is whether or not they already have family here.
That meansmultiple communities across Canada are welcoming survivors of ISIS in addition to the larger centres, with one or two people settling in one community while other centres will welcome larger numbers, the official said.
Canada declared the ISIS persecution of the Yazidis a genocide last June, after a United Nations report confirmed militants were seeking to destroy thecommunity of 400,000 people through killings, sexual slavery and other crimes.
The report saidthe Islamist militants had been systematically rounding up Yazidissince August2014, seeking to "erase their identity," a finding that meets the definition ofgenocideas defined under the 1948 Genocide Convention.
With files from Brennan MacDonald
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