Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had wanted to resettle 25,000 refugees in Canada by December 31 but faced some pushback following the deadly attacks in Paris.
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“Some of you will be asking, why did we delay?” “And if it takes a bit longer, then take the time”.
Here are some other details revealed Tuesday. Trudeau said this will allow Candians to be more reassured that refugees are not a threat.
Fully 10,000 of the total will be privately-sponsored refugees, meaning they will be brought in by non-governmental organizations, families, or church groups. Notably absent are single, heterosexual men.
At a press conference held after the Cabinet meeting, McCallum also confirmed that Canada will take in more Syrians in 2016 and that the final figure will depend on the private initiatives being mounted in the country to accept refugees. “Will a gay man who is escaping persecution be excluded?”.
In a statement on Monday, the opposition leader to Trudeau’s left, Tom Mulcair, of the National Democratic Party, expressed concern that the program is too broadly restrictive. The focus is to be on religious minorities.
Writing for PinkNews, she said: “Countries like the United Kingdom should be doing more to assist LGBTI refugees in particular”.
This helps to streamline the process, as much as it lessens the security concerns, officials said.
Where will the refugees come from?
The CBC also reports that as many as 900 refugees are expected to arrive daily to Canada from Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, at a cost of $876.7 million for this first year alone.
To lessen the security risk attached to that, officials explored the idea of bulk processing cases that were clearly earmarked by the UNHCR – the agency largely responsible for referring cases to Canada for resettlement – as being of low risk.
How will the refugees get here?
Where will they end up living?
They’ll initially land in Toronto or Montreal before going to various cities across the country.
“We want these families arriving to be welcomed, not feared”, said Trudeau.
McCallum later told Power Play bases would only be used in the event that enough housing in communities isn’t ready.
Will the refugees be permanent residents?
“Three months ago, we were talking about how we should support Syrian refugees following a picture of a drowned child on the Mediterranean”, he said. Sweden is now an exception, but recently chose to switch to temporary residency.
The security screening involves identification of vulnerable individuals, thorough interviews, background checks, and cross-referencing with global databases. We must do more and we are.
“We are pleased that Mr. Trudeau has today listened to Canadians and abandoned a timeline that was not workable”, federal Conservative lawmaker Michelle Rempel said. “It’s another thing to be accountable to them with accurate plans and accurate costing”.
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For the past six weeks, Canadian authorities have been investigating 100 people a day in Lebanese refugee camps in order to select 25,000 exiles.
