More than 1,000 overseas attendees are still awaiting a response from Immigration Canada on their visa applications to attend COP15, which begins in less than a week.
The ministry claims to have received 3,732 visitor visa applications in anticipation of this international conference on biodiversity that Montreal will host from December 7-19.
According to official figures, 2,466 files had been “processed and approved” by yesterday.
That means just over 1,000 people are still unsure if they can attend the summit, where between 10 and 15,000 delegates are expected.
A few days before its opening, “Canada isn’t doing very well internationally,” said Klaudios Mustakas, a former Immigration Canada manager who has become an immigration consultant at Ontario firm Pace Law.
“Six of our delegates applied in time but are still waiting for an answer,” says Graziela Tanaka of the Rights and Resources initiative, which funds the travel of participants from local, indigenous or Afro-descended organizations from the “South as a Whole”. “.
wasted effort
“I think they’re going to have no choice but to cancel their trip because it’s not worth just being there half the convention,” she says regretfully.
Considering Canada’s visa requirements, those at risk of missing out on COP15 are mainly from countries in Asia, South America and Africa.
“As important as it is to have these countries represented at the COP, they tend to be the countries where it is most difficult to get a visa,” Ms Tanaka regrets.
“It’s a shame, because it’s the Africans who have mastered the causes of the erosion of Africa’s biodiversity and know the answers that need to be given,” says Robert Kasisi, honorary professor at the University of Montreal and director of a natural sciences research center in the Congo. “We will have missed an opportunity to seriously consider solutions to reverse the trend.”
Déjà-vu
The situation is reminiscent of the International AIDS Conference in Montreal last summer, where similar visa issues sparked an outcry.
For its part, Immigration Canada recalls asking convention delegates to apply before November 15 to ensure they receive a timely response.
That deadline would not have been met by all, according to Stuart Isherwood, spokesman for the ministry.
“We try to ensure that applications are still submitted and processed [tout]’ he writes to the Journal.
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