Kathleen Wynne pledges to bring 10000 refugees to Ontario

“We have to push the system, because the system’s clearly not working”.

“I think there should be…a quicker process and I think the federal government needs to step up to that responsibility”.

Likening the humanitarian crisis to a natural disaster, like a tsunami or a flood or a huge forest fire, Wynne said public officials “have to go above and beyond” because exceptional circumstances demand it.

Premiere Kathleen Wynne is announcing on Saturday that the Ontario government is pledging $10.5-million to the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis.

That’s money from a new fund that will “backstop” churches, non-governmental organizations, and charities in their efforts to sponsor refugees.

At the same time, Ontario will immediately donate $1 million each to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the World Food Program for relief efforts overseas.

The premier also announced that Ontario aims to resettle 10,000 refugees by the end of 2016.

Friday marked the second joint Ontario/Quebec cabinet meeting since Wynne and Couillard came to power.

Both Wynne and Couillard said it is possible to welcome more refugees and at the same time guarantee the security of Canadians. “It’s what we know is needed for the people of Ontario…We will implement the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan whether we have the co-operation of the federal government or not”. I expect that the federal government will keep those security measures in place. Couillard himself said he was now part of a group committed to sponsoring a Syrian family.

“How do you tell these people who have so little that they need to wait a year and then maybe something is going to happen”, Sebai said.

Wynne, who is actively campaigning for Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, said Mulcair’s proposition couldn’t move forward without the support of provinces or without reopening the Constitution. “And for this we need the active collaboration of the federal government”.

When Kurdi’s father stated the household had hoped to return to Canada, the Harper authorities was criticized for not doing sufficient to expedite the appliance and resettlement course of for refugees.

A spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Canada said the department processes Syrian resettlement cases within a year and is looking at ways to speed things up.