No guarantee on refugee target: McCallum

The federal immigration minister is signalling it might not be possible for Ottawa to meet its goal of bringing 10,000 Syrian refugees to Canada by the end of next week.

Mr. McCallum said that a total of 10,000 refugees will have been processed and awarded permanent-resident status by the end of the year, although he could not promise that all of them will have travelled to Canada by that point.

Canada’s new Liberal government is pushing forward with its pledge to resettle 25,000 Syrians by the end of February.

Canada is working with the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, local governments and the International Organization for Migration to expedite the vetting process.

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.

“For us, every day is new people, new values and new learning…it’s unbelievable”, she says. McCallum held talks with both the Lebanese and Jordanian governments in which he reaffirmed Ottawa’s support for assisting and resettling refugees.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was elected to a surprise majority in October, promising to accept more refugees more quickly than the ousted Conservative government.

Before the press conference was even over, McCallum was bristling at headlines saying he had said 10,000 refugees won’t be in Canada by the end of the year.

The refugees will land in Toronto Sunday evening, then will make their way to cities all around Canada.

Most of the 298 refugees on the Montreal-bound flight are privately sponsored and destined for resettlement in Quebec, Edlund added. Trudeau said he is confident that the goal will be reached well before the deadline and said that by December 31, the government will bring in 10,000 Syrian refugees.

McCallum said the girl and her brothers weren’t able to come to Canada at this time, but thousands more will.