Will Canada Meet Its Target to Bring in 10,000 Syrian Refugees?

The federal government must do a better job of processing Syrian refugees than it has in the past year if it wants to meet its target to bring 10,000 more asylum seekers to Canada within three years, says a think tank that has monitored Canada's handling of the Syrian refugee file.*

Earlier this month, after pressure from opposition parties, the United Nations and the public, Ottawa pledged to bring 10,000 refugees from war-torn Syria to Canada within three years.

There are currently 3.7 million registered Syrian refugees, prompting the U.N. to ask countries to increase the number of refugees that they are willing to resettle.

Of the refugees to be resettled in Canada, 60 per cent are to be privately sponsored by family members and organizations. The other 40 per cent are to be sponsored by the government.

But some groups that work with refugees have expressed doubts that goal can be accomplished given that Canada did not meet its target for a much smaller amount a year and a half ago.

Raja Khouri is the president of the Canadian Arab Institute, a charitable think tank aiming to help bridge ties between the Arab-Canadian community and the rest of Canadian society.

Khouri said he's not sure why the government missed its target of Syrian refugees for last year, but argued there must have been mistakes or political interference.

"There wasn't sufficient movement on the government's part," Khouri said. "They had targeted 1,300 refugees by the end of 2014 and as far as we know that target was not met."

In mid-2013, the Conservative government pledged to have 1,300 Syrians brought to Canada by the end of last year. Near the end of 2014, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander would not give a firm answer on how many had been brought to Canada as part of the effort.

During the last session of parliament, Alexander repeatedly grouped the Syrians in with 20,000 Iraqi refugees resettled in Canada, saying that 1,150 Syrians had been given protection by Canada.

But in written answers to the New Democrats' foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar it was revealed that only 457 Syrian refugees had been resettled in relation to the 2013 plan. The remainder had arrived in Canada on their own and claimed asylum. They had not been brought to Canada as part of government resettlement program.

Refugees wait for word

Meanwhile Khouri said advocates for Syrian refugees were waiting for word from Alexander that more refugees were to be brought to Canada.

"He had told us a number of times throughout the year that very soon 'there's going to be an announcement,' then nothing would happen," Khouri said.

Now that a government announcement has been made, Khouri said community groups are mobilizing to find sponsors to bring refugees from Syria to Canada and predicted an announcement on their progress sometime in March.

One worry, Khouri said, is that the government could give religious minorities in Syria priority to come to Canada first, which is what Canada did for Iraqi refugees. Religious minorities are typically given priority because they are viewed as the most at risk.

That approach won't work in Syria because many religious minorities in the country are in safer areas, Khouri said, meaning people who are not a minority -- but are in danger -- could be overlooked.

The Canadian Council for Refugees had similar concerns and outlined them in an open letter Jan. 14.

"We would also be grateful for reassurance from you that refugees will be selected for resettlement on the basis of need, and without discrimination based on religion," said the letter. "We were deeply concerned at reports at the end of last year that the Canadian government may be considering restricting to religious minorities its commitment to resettle Syrian refugees."

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee's representative in Ottawa, Furio De Angelis, said refugees referred to the Canadian government will be chosen with the help of non-governmental organizations on the ground.

"It's a very complex, and especially labour intensive and time consuming process," De Angelis said.

He said organizations like Oxfam or Care Canada are already in the area helping in refugee camps and getting to know the people, which helps them to assist the UNHCR, which then refers them to the Canadian government.

Check tent by tent

"The UNHCR has a social services section, which develops links with the community. They go house by house, tent by tent and location by location," he said. "And you register and you see the people and you identify the situations that are socially fragile."

The ability of the family to survive in the camp is then also assessed, De Angelis said. If it's believed that they can't survive, they are referred for resettlement.

He said elderly people, minors without parents and members of the LGBTQ community are also considered because of the dangers they face in refugee camps.

"Provided that they are in the position of not having a normal life they'd be eligible for resettlement," De Angelis said.

Dewar, NDP critic for foreign affairs, said it's "hard to imagine" Canada will hit its target considering its failure on the previous goal.

He said the government should give the majority of sponsorships to the government, not the public.

Another issue, Dewar said, is Canada increasing its intake of Syrian refugees, but not offering more resources on the ground to help expedite the process explained by De Angelis.

"If they were serious about processing Syrian refugees we'd do what we've done in the past and that's put in the proper resources to process refugees abroad as well as here in Canada," he said.

The Tyee requested information from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, asking how many private sponsors have come forward, but it was not answered by deadline.

*Story clarified Jan. 23 at 3:20 p.m.