Critics question push for sanctuary city status

By Megan Harrison

The proposal to make Ottawa a sanctuary city is scheduled for discussion at the city’s community and protective services committee on Mar. 30, but many remain uncertain if the designation would be more than just a symbolic measure.

That’s because no one seems to agree on what exactly Ottawa would look like as a sanctuary city or if the status would actually change anything.

Critics and advocates alike agree that currently sanctuary city status is a largely symbolic gesture. The designation doesn’t hold legal weight, but simply commits a city to adopt policies to confirm all residents have access to municipal services.

As Ottawa receives more undocumented immigrants, there is an increased need for firm policies to ensure they can “access crucial municipal services without fear,” according to Jennifer Ridgley, a sanctuary city advocate and Carleton University professor who studies access to services for people with precarious immigration status.

If Ottawa joins Canada’s other sanctuary cities – including Toronto, Montreal, Hamilton, London and Vancouver – it will be making a commitment to provide services to these undocumented residents without putting them at risk of being deported, she said.

This means when they go to the library, access immunization services or a food bank, or even encounter city police, their immigration status would not be an issue.

Immigrants wouldn’t be detained or reported to federal authorities, including the Canadian Border Services Agency, and they wouldn’t be required to provide proof of their status, unless absolutely required by law, Ridgley said.

But Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney, who has spearheaded the move to declare Ottawa a sanctuary city, said many city service officials already do not ask for immigration status in normal practice.

But even though officials don’t ask for status, many people with precarious status are still be concerned they will be and thus may not seek services when needed. The sanctuary designation would provide “a guarantee that we won’t ask,” McKenney said.

However, not everyone agrees that such a guarantee is necessary. For some, Ottawa is already a welcoming city, and the designation is unnecessarily symbolic and political.

The idea of declaring Ottawa a sanctuary city appeared to divide council members when it was first raised in February, a time when a wave of such declarations occurred south of the border in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order banning travel to the U.S. by citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Opponents of the designation for Ottawa, including Mayor Jim Watson, say that no refugee claimants have come forward complaining they didn’t receive city services because of incomplete immigration paperwork.

Coun. Michael Qaqish, who is also the refugee liaison for the city, said that this is despite the fact that Ottawa recently welcomed more than 2,000 refugees from Syria.

But sanctuary city advocates still argue that Ottawa needs to go further to ensure people feel city-funded services are safe and accessible, including adopting a “robust” policy change they refer to as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” according to Ridgley.

The “Don’t Ask” component would train city officials not to ask about a person’s immigration status. If that status is discovered anyway, the “Don’t Tell” component would prevent the sharing of that information with other levels of government, including CBSA.

Ridgley argues that this policy change is one way for the measure to become more than just symbolic.

The policy does not account for situations in which city officials are required by law to share information, but “it places some limits on the collecting and sharing of information,” Ridgley said.

A report prepared by McKenney was to be discussed at the committee. A decision on the proposed sanctuary city declaration would have to be ratified by the full city council.