Syrian refugees may not be ‘on Canadian soil’ by year’s end: McCallum

Nonetheless, he said he was “very confident” that 10,000 or more refugees will be processed as permanent residents by the end of the year and that 25,000 refugees would be in Canada before the end of February.

Canadians should expect many more Syrian refugees, as the government has committed to resettling 25,000 refugees in our country.

Under its present plan, Ottawa will airlift all 10,000 privately-sponsored refugees to Canada by December 31, before airlifting the remaining 15,000 government-sponsored Syrians by the end of February 2016. He said that initially there was a “good chance” for achieving the goal by the end of the year, but given the present situation, there are only eight days left to bring in 8,000 refugees.

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

Before the press conference was even over, McCallum was bristling at headlines saying he had said 10,000 refugees won’t be in Canada by the end of the year.

“We are moving heaven and Earth to get them here as quickly as we can”, McCallum said.

Together, Montreal and Toronto’s airports can support up to five 300-passenger flights a day, but McCallum says it’s impossible to predict what the day-to-day schedule will be over the next few days. In late November, the government pushed back the deadline to resettle 25,000 to the end of February, committing instead to resettle 10,000 by January 1.

As of Monday, 1,869 Syrian refugees have arrived in Canada since early November, according to the government.

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

The minister spoke to Syrian families as they prepared to board flights to Canada. “And once the wave builds to maximum level, large numbers of refugees are able to fly across the ocean to Canada”.

“It’s certainly not guaranteed”, McCallum said. Their arrival is expected to push the total number of refugees now in Canada to “well over 2,000”.

“The crisis continues to have an enormous social and economic impact on the host countries, with many local, municipal and national services such as health, education and water under severe strain”.