Quebec opens immigration offices for the weekend, as would-be refugee sponsors vie for place in line

The Quebec government has opened the doors of its immigration offices for the weekend, so that people who want to sponsor a refugee family can stay out of the cold while they line up to submit one of the 750 applications being accepted on a first come, first served basis.

Immigration advocacy organizations had raised the alarm that hundreds of would-be refugee sponsors would likely be waiting outside through the weekend for doors to open at 8 a.m. Monday, despitethe extreme cold temperatures.

"There was never any question that the people who decided to go in advance would have to wait outside in the cold," said lisabeth Gosselin, spokesperson for the Quebec Immigration Ministry.

Advocacy groups had beenquite certain therewould be an overnightlineup, because that's what happened 16 months ago the last time the government accepted applications from citizens' groups and community organizations to privately sponsor refugees.

• Private refugee sponsors wait in line overnight for a chance to submit applications

"We are still worried about what time and how many people are going to be lining up," said Bilal Hamideh of the Refugee Sponsorship of Greater Montreal organization, which hopes to sponsor 10 refugee families this year.

However, Gosselin said in an emailed statement that the ministry's offices would be open starting Friday evening,with staff on hand, and coffeeand water available for those in line.

The ministry said, however, there are no plans to increase the number of applications immigration officials will accept.Just like in September 2018, a total of 750 applications will be accepted, and anyone who doesn't make the cut-off will be turned away.

'It's not whether you get to see Rod Stewart'

Whether it's inside or not, Paul Clarke,of Action Rfugis, says the problem is the government has turned the private sponsorship program into a "scarcity model" as if people were purchasing tickets to a popular concert.

"You're lining up to provide protection to people you care about," Clarke said. "It's not whether you get to see Rod Stewart, it's whether somebody gets a chance to save a life."

"We're ready to welcome more people, and we have the capacity to sponsor them. The numbers that are being permitted are too low."

The Quebec program, modelled on the federal one, has been popular from the start, leading to such a backlog of unprocessed applications that in 2017, the program had to be suspended for more than 18 months, while the government processing thousands of existing applications.

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More than 9,000 refugees were accepted into the province in 2017.

However, the Coalition Avenir Qubec government, which was elected in 2018 on a commitment to reduce immigration, says it aims to cut the number of refugees to between 7,200 and 7,500 in 2020, with a maximum of of 3,350 sponsored refugees.

The government has justified its promise to reduce the number of immigrants overall by saying it wants to focus efforts on better integrating people.

But Clarke says the sponsorship program is one of the more efficient ways to integrate people, although he says he prefers to use the word "accompany" because it puts less onus on the refugees.

"We wonder, is 'integration' a double-edged sword? In other words, have you succeeded at your integration, have you integrated enough?" he said.

Hamideh, with Refugee Sponsorship of Greater Montreal, points out many of the refugees brought in through the private sponsorship program already have friends or family in Quebec, making integrating less of a challenge .

"They're willing to receive them from day one at the airport finding them a place, and furnishing it for them," he said. "So this program is not costing the government for the first year."