by SAMER ELATRASH

A Quebec government policy demanding that immigrant and refugee services groups hand over names of their clients is facing hard opposition from community organizations.

The policy, which the immigration ministry plans to enforce by July 1, requires community groups that help refugees and immigrants to supply the government with clients’ names and personal information, which the government would collect into a database.

The government says its policy would improve services provided by community groups to immigrants and refugees.

“We want to try to learn what are really the needs of people who use these organizations,” says Marie-Hélène Paradis, a spokeswoman with the immigration ministry.

Paradis says some immigrants and refugees seek help from more than one organization. “There certainly is a problem in the services if they have to use them more than once. Maybe something is missing.”

The government wouldn’t distribute the names of clients, but each client would have a case number, Paradis says. The Ontario government has enacted a similar policy.

A coalition of community groups in Quebec which opposes the policy says the government doesn’t need the names of clients to improve services.

“We wouldn’t mind providing information for statistics, but not personal information,” says Stephan Reichhold, an executive with Quebec Coalition for Immigration and Refugee Services.

Adding stress

The coalition is made up of 68 community groups which help up to 40,000 clients each year, Reichhold says. The number of clients who may use more than one organization is in the “few thousands,” he says. “It’s not a big issue.”

Asking clients to sign forms relinquishing their confidentiality could deter refugees and immigrants from seeking help, says a member of an immigrant women’s group.

“We have to assure them always of their confidentiality,” says Dolores Chew, co-founder of the South Asian Women’s Centre (SAWC). “Now we’re supposed to give them a form and tell them the government wants to know you’re using the centre.

“A lot of people who come to our centres are already under a lot of stress and pressure. [The new policy] is definitely unhelpful,” she adds.

Reichhold questions the government’s reasons for demanding the names of clients, saying the immigration ministry is already provided with enough statistics and information on clients’ profiles, as well as audits on how funds from the government are spent.

“Why do groups working with women, youth and handicapped people just have to give numbers?” Reichhold asks. He points out that employment community groups working under the employment ministry supply names of their clients, but only so their clients can receive cheques.

William Sloan, an immigration lawyer in Montreal, says the policy may be an attempt to track non-status immigrants and refugees.

Sloan says many of his clients are referred to him by community groups, and the government finds it hard to pick up non-status immigrants. The new naming policy would make it easier for the government to track them, but would also further push these immigrants underground, he says.

“We don’t turn anyone away,” says a community group organizer, who asked she remain anonymous as the group deals with illegal and non-status immigrants, adding that the services weren’t covered by government funds.

Info already there

Negotiations between the immigration ministry and the community groups have been stalled for several months. The groups accuse government negotiators of being unbending bureaucrats who issue ultimatums.

“They’re not listening,” says Reichhold. “In negotiations you give a bit and take a bit.”

Reichhold says the community groups would be willing to provide the government with any information it would need to assess integration rates of different immigrant communities, but they draw the line at providing names.

With both sides digging in their heels, it seems unlikely that the deadline of July 1 will be met. “It may go on for another year,” Reichhold says. Asked how the government intends to enforce its deadline, ministry spokeswoman Paradis says, “We’re not there yet.”

Both the immigration ministry and community groups see a possibility of a breakthrough this week in a scheduled meeting with Immigration Minister Lise Thériault, but some aren’t holding their breaths for the outcome.

SAWC has begun circulating a petition calling on the government to scrap its policy.

“They should just find a face-saving measure and admit this was bad policy,” says Chew. “That would be appreciated, and no one is going to tell them, ‘We told you so.’”