“We looked at the logistics, we looked at what it would take to bring them in by January 1, and we had options around that”, he told Metro Morninghost Matt Galloway during a one on one interview in Ottawa earlier today. Military aircraft will assist if needed.
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But the signs on 31 USA state legislatures say “Go back to where you came from”.
“It’s a pretty tough choice for families to be making”.
Former Conservative Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who lost the October 19 election to Trudeau, had declined to resettle more Syrian refugees, despite the haunting image of a drowned 3-year-old Syrian boy washed up on a Turkish beach that focused global attention on the migrant crisis stemming from the civil war.
While 22 staff in Jordan pore over files, about 40 more are interviewing candidates. They want peace. Obviously leave no stone unturned when conducting security checks; but, at the end of the day, they are people fleeing their homes in search of a better life.
Despite that, every province in Canada has agreed to take in refugees and charity organizations have been inundated with offers from private citizens eager to welcome and help resettle refugees.
On Friday, Goodale called U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to reassure him that “safety and security” remain Canada’s “highest priority” in welcoming Syrian refugees.
Of those selected, the target is to have 10,000 Syrian refugees arrive in Canada by the end of this year, and the remainder to arrive by the end of February 2016.
Watts said that her appointment last week to the Conservative “shadow cabinet” as critic for infrastructure and communities will also allow her utilize experience she gathered during her years as Surrey mayor (during that time she spearheaded the Build Surrey construction and investment initiative, and served a term on the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation). Health authorities in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland will expand their ranks of Arabic interpreters and Ontario’s medical officers are preparing trauma counsellors to help with refugees arriving after long stays in camps.
And there’s the matter of the coming winter, something the Canadian Red Cross is keenly aware of as well.
McCallum said they will choose the most vulnerable whatever the religion might be.
This is why the Syrians are refugees, because they have been sentenced to death if they stay.
But that’s been scrapped and the Red Cross is pivoting towards co-ordinating efforts to welcome the refugees as they land in Montreal and Toronto and spread out from there. Temporary accommodation will be provided by the military if required, but the government aims to have lodging in place in the host cities and towns.
Our response to this enormous humanitarian crisis helps define us as Canadians.
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The BBC report seems to simultaneously dispute and confirm CBC’s report, quoting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying he rejected the idea of “exclusions” for single men, while Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Minister John McCallum declared, “We want them to have a roof over their head, and the right support”.
