Year-end refugee target likely to be missed

Canada’s immigration minister is signalling the federal government won’t meet its goal of bringing 10,000 Syrian refugees by the end of the year.

Speaking at a briefing on Wednesday, McCallum said 10,000 refugees will be “verified” by December 31, but not all will be on Canadian soil.

McCallum said that he was “very confident” the government’s goal of resettling 25,000 Syrians in Canada before the end of February would be met.

McCallum held talks with both the Lebanese and Jordanian governments in which he reaffirmed Ottawa’s support for assisting and resettling refugees.

On November 24, the Canadian government amended its refugee policy to accept 25,000 Syrian men, women and children. We looked at what the United Nations was asking of Canada.

Instead, the government is planning a reduced number of flights between December 23 and December 31, and is refusing to provide a formal schedule.

Justin Trudeau has delivered his first Christmas message as prime minister, encouraging Canadians to share the generosity of the season with Syrian refugees.

A flight carrying 298 Syrian refugees is expected to land in Montreal on Wednesday evening. The first planeload of Syrian refugees landed in Toronto earlier this month and was met by Trudeau. I admit that recent events in Paris and in San Bernardino are unsettling and should cause us to proceed with caution, but Canada has the same concerns and is acting in a more responsible manner. “Vulnerable host community populations have reported decreases in wages and deteriorating working conditions due to increased competition for low and unskilled jobs”, states the UNHCR’s Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan 2016 – 2017.

Are they equipped to handle a potential doubling of refugees fleeing the Syrian civil war, many of whom will require physical and psychological care?

“The countries of Lebanon and Jordan have opened their doors to well over a million refugees even though it is clearly a strain on local resources”.

Mr McCallum made the announcement from the Jordanian capital of Amman, where he met Syrians heading to Canada.