Canada remains committed to taking in 25,000 Syrian refugees, but only 10,000 of them by year’s end, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government said on Tuesday.
The Liberal administration, which had pledged to take in the full number of refugees from camps in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon this year, said 15,000 would now arrive in the first two months of next year.
The delay was announced as the deadly Paris attacks stir fears in Europe and North America that militants could seek to blend in with refugees to strike later.
Recent polls showed 54 percent of Canadians support slowing down the operation to host refugees if it meant avoiding possible security lapses.
“Canadians have said do this right and if it takes a little longer to do it, then take the time,” Canadian Minister of Immigration John McCallum told a press conference. “And so essentially this is what we are going to be doing.”
Officials said communities across Canada where the refugees will be resettled also need more time to prepare for their arrival, McCallum said.
“We want them to have a roof over their head,” he said. “We want them to have the right supports for language training and for all the other things that they need to begin their life here in Canada, and it takes a bit of time to put all of that in place.”
Under the plan, all 25,000 refugees would be identified by Dec. 31 from lists prepared by the UN refugee agency and the government of Turkey, and invited to apply for relocation to Canada.
A text message will direct them to Canadian visa offices in Amman, in Beirut and one in Turkey where 500 government staff have been dispatched to process applications.
Officials said only whole families, women in vulnerable position or single men who are gay — therefore deemed at risk of persecution — or accompanied by parents as part of a family will be accepted. Other single males old enough for military service would be turned away.
Trudeau’s government has sought to reassure the White House over the safety aspect of its plans, as US President Barack Obama faces a barrage of opposition to his own scheme to resettle 10,000 refugees in the coming year.
“We will not compromise the quality of the security work that must get done,” Canadian Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale said.
“Safety and security have always been at the very top of our priority list,” he said.
The first refugee flight is expected to take off early next month, but a precise date has not yet been set.
“We have a responsibility to significantly expand our refugee targets and give more victims of war a safe haven in Canada,” Trudeau said in a statement. “The resettling of vulnerable refugees is a clear demonstration of this.”
Before boarding chartered flights to Toronto or Montreal, the refugees would undergo security checks, which include the verification of documents, iris scans, fingerprinting and photographing, among other measures. They will also receive a medical examination.
Canadian Minister of Defense Harjit Sajjan said Canadian military transports also stand ready to assist in the massive airlift.
Upon arrival in Canada, most of the refugees are expected to transit straight through to the 36 communities that have offered to sponsor them. The Canadian military is making 6,000 beds available on its bases to temporarily accommodate others.
The cost of the operation could reach up to C$678 million (US$509.8 million) over six years, officials said.
Canada takes in an average of 250,000 refugees from around the world each year.
The UN refugee agency estimates that more than 4 million Syrians have fled the civil war ravaging their country, which has killed more than 250,000 people.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese