McCallum says 10000 Syrian refugees won’t arrive in Canada by year end

Of the 1,869 Syrian refugees that have arrived in Canada since November 4, 339 are government-assisted, 1,297 are privately sponsored and 233 are part of a blended VISA program, Dawn Edlund of the ministry said at the news conference.

One week ago, federal officials said they were optimistic that the objective of bringing in 10,000 Syrian refugees by the end of the year would be met.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used his first Christmas message as PM to encourage a warm welcome for Syrian refugees arriving to the country, reported CBC News Wednesday.

Meanwhile Canada continues to welcome more and more.

However, McCallum said he is “confident” that Ottawa will meet its overall target to resettle refugees “well before” the end of February. “And I started talking to my staff and they said the phones [were] ringing off the hook”.

On a recent weekday afternoon, a couple of dozen lawyers from all kinds of practices gathered on the 30th floor of an office tower in downtown Toronto.

Friesen says Canada is the only country in the world that charges refugees interest on the loans they’re issued when brought to this country – and the issue is causing a stir in the refugee community.

About Air TransatAir Transat is Canada’s leading holiday travel airline.

The UN refugee agency, the Jordanian government and the International Organization for Migration will be helping to speed up the vetting process, he said.

Calla says the biggest challenge is housing. Immigration and Refugees Minister John McCallum says processing centres in Amman, Jordan and Beirut, Lebanon are certifying about 800 refugees per day as permanent Canadian residents.

Calla says there were plans to house the refugees at military bases and on cruise ships. The deadline was extended to the end of February last month.

“It is a great sign of the generosity of all Canadians, according to their means”, McCallum said. But it’s not a unanimous sentiment. “So if there’s bad weather, or if there’s people wanting to delay their flight for whatever reason, then it’s much more hard to deal with that over a period of eight days than over a period of 60 days”, he said.