The Liberal government says it will have an announcement in the coming days that will explain “in substantial detail” how Canada plans to bring in 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of the year. Members of Alan’s extended family had tried to be privately sponsored to come to Canada, but were rejected.
Advertisement
Health Minister Jane Philpott (left to right), Defence Minister Harijit Singh Sajjan and Immigration Minister John McCallum hold a news conference after a cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, Thursday November 12, 2015.
The Liberal cabinet has met to review its plan for the resettlement of Syrian refugees, but is saying little – sowing confusion and frustration about exactly what is to happen next, and how.
When asked if the plan prepared by the Ad Hoc Committee on Syrian Refugees had been approved by cabinet, McCallum said, “As my colleague said, we had a very good discussion”. “So we will have a mix of the two”.
The rather complicated notion being presented here is that there are two separate, but related, targets: 25,000 refugees from a mix of government and private sponsorship by the end of this year, and then more refugees to bring the government-sponsored total alone up to 25,000 by sometime early next year.
“Additional government-sponsored refugees will arrive into the new year as the government meets a specific target of 25,000 government-sponsored Syrian refugees”, she added.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, a few Syrians arriving in Canada are expected to be issued temporary residency permits while the federal government continues to process their applications.
The province works with four agencies who would help new refugees get settled.
Of those, the government sponsored only 275, while almost 1,500 arrived through private sponsorship.
NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan, whose party had promised a more modest target of 10,000 Syrian refugees resettled through government sponsorship by the end of the year, accused the Liberals of backtracking on one of their key election campaign commitments.
The campaign promise – to have 25,000 refugees brought to Canada – includes people sponsored by the federal government and private groups. Since January, private groups have submitted close to 6,000 applications themselves.
Canadian Council for Refugees executive director Janet Dench was more circumspect.
That would seem to bolster reports that the Liberals are considering temporarily housing thousands of refugee claimants on.
Mitchell Goldberg, president of Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, said the government is facing an enormous task.
“We wouldn’t mind if a few of the government-assisted refugees came a bit later to make room for private-sponsored refugees that are nearly ready to come before December 31”, Dench said.
Advertisement
Hundreds of government officials have already been sent to Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, Syria’s three neighbours who’ve taken the bulk of over 4 million refugees who have fled the civil war in their home country.
