The vocabulary of refugee resettlement, and three phrases in it carry real weight. A group means five or more citizens or permanent residents, all adults, acting together to sponsor. Urgent need of protection means life, liberty or physical safety under immediate threat, with killing, violence, torture, sexual assault, arbitrary imprisonment or being sent home as the likely outcome. Vulnerable means a heightened risk to physical safety compared with other applicants. Those two labels decide who gets moved to the front of the queue.
138 The definitions in this section apply in this Division and in Division 2. group means (a)five or more Canadian citizens or permanent residents, each of whom is at least 18 years of age, who are acting together for the purpose of sponsoring a Convention refugee or a person in similar circumstances; or (b)one or more Canadian citizens or permanent residents, each of whom is at least 18 years of age, and a corporation or unincorporated organization or association referred to in subsection 13(2) of the Act, acting together for the purpose of sponsoring a Convention refugee or a person in similar circumstances. (groupe) referral organization means (a)the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; or (b)any organization with which the Minister has entered into a memorandum of understanding under section 143. (organisation de recommandation) sponsor means (a)a group, a corporation or an unincorporated organization or association referred to in subsection 13(2) of the Act, or any combination of them, that is acting for the purpose of sponsoring a Convention refugee or a person in similar circumstances; or (b)for the purposes of section 158, a sponsor as defined in section 1 of the Québec Immigration Regulation, CQLR, c. I-0.2.1, r. 3, as amended from time to time. (répondant) undertaking means an undertaking in writing to the Minister to provide resettlement assistance, lodging and other basic necessities in Canada for a member of a class prescribed by this Division, the member’s accompanying family members and any of the member’s non-accompanying family members who meet the requirements of section 141, for the period determined in accordance with subsections 154(2) and (3). (engagement) urgent need of protection means, in respect of a member of the Convention refugee abroad or the country of asylum class, that their life, liberty or physical safety is under immediate threat and, if not protected, the person is likely to be (a)killed; (b)subjected to violence, torture, sexual assault or arbitrary imprisonment; or (c)returned to their country of nationality or of their former habitual residence. (besoin urgent de protection) vulnerable means, in respect of a Convention refugee or a person in similar circumstances, that the person has a greater need of protection than other applicants for protection abroad because of the person’s particular circumstances that give rise to a heightened risk to their physical safety. (vulnérable)