Canada reaches goal of 25K Syrian refugees by March

Immigration Minister John McCallum will address the media today from Toronto to talk about reaching the federal government’s revised target of accepting 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of February.

McCallum was at Toronto’s Pearson Airport on Monday to receive the last two flights of refugees arriving under the Canadian government’s $500 million resettlement program, reports the Associated Press.

The refugee resettlement program was launched in November after the Liberals came to power, but it soon became apparent they would be unable to meet a promise to bring in 25,000 government-sponsored refugees by the end of the year.

Monday marks the deadline for the government’s pledge to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of February. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.

Syrian refugees have gone to communities where there are settlement supports in place, with consideration given to whether they have family members in Canada, as well as the availability of schools, and housing, McCallum said. Fewer than half said they were interested.

10,000: Number who were initially expected to be privately sponsored.

Syrian refugees will continue to arrive in Canada, albeit at a slower pace. The previous Conservative government declined to resettle more Syrian refugees, despite the haunting image of a drowned 3-year-old Syrian boy washed up on a Turkish beach.

While they are not directly coming from camps, all have official refugee status conferred upon them by the United Nations; those who’ve been selected from that pool to come to Canada as government assisted refugees have also been deemed as being at risk where they are living now.