Canada has given itself a two month extension on its ambitious plan to bring in 25,000 Syrian refugees into the country by the end of 2015.
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“My own sort of analysis is that this is a move that the Liberal government has taken in response to the backlash that has been happening around security issues”, she says.
The government unveiled its updated plans on Tuesday. They need to be Syrian nationals or a stateless person and former Syrian resident, and be now living outside Syria.
Government estimates place the cost of settling an individual refugee today at around $12,000.
The refugees will arrive mainly via commercial flights, but military planes are also on standby if needed.
The previous Conservative government can also take some of the credit as many of those files were opened under their prior Syrian refugee resettlement program.
After they were sworn into office, they clarified that meeting the year-end deadline would involve both government and privately sponsored refugees. The majority of these will be finalized in the coming weeks.
Locally, 8 Wing CFB Trenton is expected to welcome 1,000 refugees.
Immigration Minister John McCallum (Markham-Thornhill, Ont.) denied the Liberal government did not meet its election promise of 25,000 refugees by the end of December, and argued the government had to ensure that rigorous security screening was in place before the refugees leave their camps in the Mid-East countries neighbouring Syria.
Speaking to Radio Canada, Faisal Alazem of the Syrian Canadian Council, a non-profit group planning to sponsor refugees, said “this is not the ideal scenario”.
Critics – backed by 54 percent of Canadians, according to recent polls – have urged Trudeau to slow down the process to avoid mistakes in security screenings of refugees.
The debate over accepting refugees has raged across the world as the conflict, which began in 2011 between the government of Bashar al-Assad and opposition forces and has since devolved into an internecine bloodbath, has sent millions into exile in the surrounding countries.
Those who will be considered refugees include families, women at risk, and gay men and women.
Initial reports had suggested that the government would not be allowing in any unattached single men in under the program, unless they are a sexual minority. It is encouraging Canadians to donate, volunteer or even sponsor refugees.
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says Canada does additional screenings above the United Nations procedures, and CSIS is involved in that process. Applications, either private or government, that raise any questions will be set aside.
“Most refugees will be resettled in their new host communities directly upon arrival”, Philpott said.
The government intends to settle refugees in at least 36 communities identified so far, and has identified 6,000 beds on military bases as a contingency.
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The officials said only that the province of Quebec accounts for 13 of the cities, and the rest are located across the country. And they will be screened for communicable diseases.
