On October 24th, McGill Students of HanVoice had the distinct privilege of joining 5 other HanVoice chapters from across Canada in a lobbying event on Parliament Hill. “HanVoice on the Hill” presented a unique opportunity for everyday students to speak with the nation’s key leaders and decision-makers about the issues regarding North Korean human rights and refugees. Moreover, this was a chance for our group to spur meaningful political change in order to provide tangible benefits for North Korean refugees.
Due to China’s unwillingness to recognize North Korean defectors as “legitimate refugees”, these individuals are forced to make the arduous trek down to intermediary sanctuary countries like Thailand to make their refugee claims. Currently, only South Korea and the United States are accepting these North Koreans for resettlement but this process has become exceedingly difficult under the current Trump administration. Our purpose of going to Ottawa was to demonstrate that Canada could be a viable third option for these individuals. Minister Ahmed Hussen of the IRCC currently has the discretionary power under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to allow Canada to accept these refugees, and it was our mission to show that Canadians want to help. With the gracious help of Senator Yonah Martin’s office, our group was able to meet with over 40 parliamentarians and policy makers to impart this message. This included MP Ruby Sahota, the NDP’s critic for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship MP Jenny Kwan, and Deputy Chair of the Standing Committee on Human Rights Senator Salma Ataullahjan. Fortunately, we were greeted with overwhelming support as most of the parliamentarians pledged to either write a letter to the minister, bring up the topic during question period, or speak personally with him about the issue. Furthermore, we had the opportunity to hear from distinguished speakers such as the Korean Ambassador to Canada Shin Maeng-ho, the Japanese Ambassador to Canada Kimihiro Ishikane, and the former Canadian Ambassador to Vietnam Marius Grinius who helped further contextualize the North Korean issue and explored the topic from a foreign policy standpoint. We finally concluded our three days in Parliament Hill on October 26th. In the following weeks, we had a chance to reflect on the life-changing experiences we had gained in such a short amount of time. Not only did we return to our chapters equipped with greater confidence and more effective leadership and advocacy skills, we also came back with an immense pride for our achievements. Speaking to parliamentarians of different political stripes was at first a daunting task. Many of us were nervous at the thought of making potentially critical mistakes in front of experienced politicians. Yet, ultimately many of them expressed their support for our cause and the resettlement project. Although this is just a step towards realizing our goal of making North Korean resettlement in Canada a possibility, realizing that our collective voice can make a tangible difference in the lives of North Korean refugees was extremely empowering.
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