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
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