reference to alleviate and avoid such separation, the Convention on the Rights of the Child also requires that “... applications by a child or his or her parents to enter or leave a State Party for the purpose of family reunification shall be dealt with by States Parties in a positive, humane and expeditious manner.”543 IV. Recommendations 27) Citizenship and Immigration Canada should provide statistics on the number of stateless persons who have applied and been accepted into all economic and non-economic immigrant programs over the last 5 years and what status they acquired upon acceptance (temporary resident status, permanent resident status, etc.). 28) Citizenship and Immigration Canada should provide statistics on the number of stateless persons who have applied and been granted citizenship under the following legal avenues: • A stateless child born abroad to a Canadian parent born abroad • A discretionary grant of citizenship by the Minister • An eligible permanent resident 29) Citizenship and Immigration Canada should make publically available its policy manual/guidelines on the factors and application procedure for discretionary grants of citizenship under section 5(4) of the Citizenship Act. 30) Reiterating Andrew Brouwer’s recommendations in Statelessness in the Canadian Context: a. Section 5(4) of the Citizenship Act should be amended to include statelessness as a “special and unusual hardship” factor that warrants a discretionary grant of citizenship to a person who may not fulfill all of the usual criteria. b. The Minister should use the authority of ss. 25.2(1) of the IRPA to establish “protection of stateless persons” as a public policy category for permanent resident status in cases processed both in Canada and overseas, where such stateless persons otherwise lack effective protection. Alternatively, at a very minimum, statelessness should be included as a persuasive factor in processing H&C applications from inside and outside Canada, as well as with respect to applications from former citizens. Establishment requirements should be explicitly minimized or waived, in view of the hardships faced by stateless persons. c. Include statelessness as a ground for resettlement to Canada, where the stateless person lacks effective protection and access to a durable solution within a reasonable time. d. Statistics on whether or not statelessness was considered as a positive factor in H&C cases, including disaggregated data on the country of former habitual residence, age and gender. 543 113 Ibid., at Art. 10(1). 113