Canada announces $100 million in funding to United Nations High Commissioner

Real estate companies are contributing apartments, airlines are offering seats and individual business leaders are chipping in cash.

McCallum also said the first group of new refugees will be flown to Canada on a military plane – although the date for that flight has yet to be set because of the lack of exit visas.

Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau meets Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II during a private audience at Buckingham Palace, London, Wednesday Nov. 25, 2015.

The government also intends to launch a website that will provide regular updates on the progress and delays for the Canadian population, McCallum said.

“Along with our commitment to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada, our additional contribution to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees efforts will help the poorest and most vulnerable, and support those affected by times of crisis in fragile states”, Bibeau said. “This funding to UNHCR will help to make these decisions a little less hard by helping to meet basic needs”.

Thursday’s announcement brings to $969 million the total amount of humanitarian assistance from Canada in response to the Syrian crisis, which has forced four million people to leave the country.

With the Red Cross active on the ground in Syria and in countries like Jordan, their signs will be a lone familiar sight for many Syrians as they arrive in Canada.

International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said the government will move quickly to disburse the funds that it has already announced, but was noncommittal about whether more might be pledged in the future.

This will be done through a five-phase national plan: identifying Syrian refugees to come to Canada, selecting and processing Syrian refugees overseas, transportation to Canada, arrival and welcoming in Canada, and settlement and community integration.

She said she is looking forward to looking at the issues on a national level, noting that Trudeau has mandated development of a 10-year plan for infrastructure that includes everything from public transit to social and green infrastructure, as well as the Build Canada program, which covers such development as ports and border facilities. Security was a concern that Canadians had when we were welcoming impoverished East African refugees who then turned around in the Ismaili community and contributed untold success and growth to Canada.

During the election campaign, the Liberals initially promised to resettle 25,000 people by government means alone.

He noted that in the coming decades, climate change, future conflicts, and resource depletion will fuel the wave of refugees around the world, and “demonstrating that there are ways to make refugees a positive for the country, as Canada has done historically, is an important message”.