Canadian PM Trudeau: Syrian refugees not security risk

However, in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. on Tuesday, Trudeau downplayed the security concerns. “And we realized that the most important thing is to be able to reassure Canadians that absolutely everything is being done to keep Canadians safe”. Canada has also pledged to take refugees of all faiths.

The 25,000 Syrian refugees we will admit in the next three months are but a tiny fraction of the millions that have been displaced just in that one wretched country, let alone the world at large.

He talked about giving the Syrian newcomers pathways to success in Canada, saying it isn’t about simply bringing them to the country but helping them integrate with society. “[The refugees] will include a mix of privately sponsored and government assisted refugees”, Health Minister, Jane Philpott, said.

According to the plan, Canada will take in 10,000 refugees by year’s end and will aim to bring in 15,000 more by the end of February. Canada’s foreign minister, Stephane Dion, called his Lebanese counterpart to ask to help speed it up.

“This is not about security”.

Private sponsors have no restrictions on whom they can bring over. The former Tory government’s criteria for Syrian refugees included “the most vulnerable” which encompassed Christians as well as “ethnic and sexual minorities”.

“In a flawless world, sure, we should have some say in what the Canadians do, but in reality we don’t”.

The ISIS-affiliated gunmen who killed 130 people in the French capital on November 13, Trudeau insisted, did not influence his decision to delay the resettlement process.

Biden’s trip Wednesday comes amid a debate in the United States about whether to admit Syrian refugees following the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) attack in Paris.

The United Nations first chooses the cases, then passes them off to Canadian officials for final review and approval.

“I was aware that there might be concerns when I sat down with President Obama last week”.

Trudeau says top scientists will also be part of the meeting with premiers and territorial leaders to work on a strategy for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. There were questions about a potential security risk in an effort to hit the deadline.

“There is no way you can make it totally secure”, said Andrew Finn, program associate with the Canada Institute at the Wilson Center, a Washington DC-based think tank.

The confession that they will, in fact, do much the same as the other parties is being greeted in some quarters as a masterstroke: the Liberals have wrong-footed their opponents, it is said, by the clever ruse of accepting their criticisms and adopting their policies. Full medical exams and security screening will be completed overseas prior to arriving in Canada.

Trudeau, making his second whirlwind tour on the worldwide summit circuit in as many weeks, is on his way to Buckingham Palace this morning for an audience with Queen Elizabeth.

“We have to understand that it’s far easier for terrorists to come on tourist visas or business or student visas than as refugees”, he said.

As a matter of routine, the UN High Commission for Refugees registers all those seeking shelter from conflict in their camps.