Canada aims to double intake of Syrian refugees to 50000, immigration chief

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government is saying it may admit up to 50,000 Syrian refugees into Canada by the end of 2016.

But in Canada, the resettlement program was met with support: The country’s 10 provincial premiers supported the initial move to bring in 25,000 refugees.

On November 24, the Canadian government amended its refugee policy to accept 25,000 Syrian men, women and children.

“It’s certainly not guaranteed”, McCallum said, explaining that weather can cause cancellations and delays, and that “human nature” is also a factor.

“We are moving heaven and earth to get them here as quickly as we can, but to do it in a way that is correct and appropriate and takes due concern for security, medical and other issues”, he said.

“As I have said before, this is like a wave”, McCallum noted, with the initial build-up still happening before a peak of arrivals in the coming weeks. There will be no flights landing on Christmas Day, McCallum confirmed, but some may be taking off to begin their journey to Canada.

He said there was a “good chance” that there will be 10,000 refugees by year end, but it wasn’t a guarantee because there were only eight more days to bring some 8,000 refugees into the country.

That means almost 1,000 refugees per day would need to arrive in Canada between now and December 31 to meet the government’s target.

Health care systems in many provinces were already under severe strain before the Syrian refugee crisis.

The Star reported that even as he spoke, 298 refugees were airbound to Montreal, which would bring the total number of admitted refugees so far to 2,167. Canada has provided support for a number of projects in the region to help with the influx of refugees to the area where local resources have been stretched thin.

However, 10,000 Syrians will be processed and ready to leave for Canada by the end of 2015, Immigration Minister John McCallum told reporters in Ottawa today, having just come back from a trip to Lebanon and Jordan.

McCallum also announced that the federal government would be allocating an additional $15 million to Canadian resettlement agencies.