Canada has reached the half-way mark in its goal to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of February, federal officials said Thursday.
As of Thursday morning, over 12,400 Syrian refugees had arrived in Canada since Nov. 4, 2015, when the Liberals were sworn into power.
Most of the refugees arrived on government-chartered flights mainly from Jordan and Lebanon. The first planeload of Syrian refugees from Turkey arrived on Wednesday, said officials at the department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) during a briefing in Ottawa.
Of the 12,425 refugees who have arrived so far, 6,805 are government-assisted, 4,858 are privately-sponsored, and 762 have come through the blended program that combines the resources of private citizens, community groups and the federal government.
Officials say the final tally at the end of February is likely to see 17,000 Syrians arrive under the government-assisted and blended programs and some 8,000 refugees sponsored by private individuals.
Requests for slowdown
The refugees have been welcomed by 151 communities across Canada, officials said. However, resettlement agencies in Halifax, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver and Prince Albert have asked the federal government to slow down the pace at which government-assisted refugees are arriving in their communities, officials said.
“The flow from the airplanes is not slowing down at all,” Immigration Minister John McCallum said Wednesday during a speech in Toronto.
“It’s just certain towns or cities need a pause. There will be other places in Canada who will receive the refugees.”
A few dozen government-assisted refugees who were bound for Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa will now remain in hotels for a few extra days, officials said. The housing for privately sponsored refugees is taken care of by their sponsors.
Federal officials sought to downplay the request for the slowdown, saying it’s not unusual for government-assisted refugees to stay in hotels for a couple weeks while resettlement agencies try to find permanent or temporary housing for them.
No refugees at military bases yet
Despite some difficulties in finding housing in some of the 36 cities across the country, there is no plan yet to house refugees at military bases, officials said.
That option still remains open but would only be used in case of an emergency. Instead, Ottawa seeks to expand the list of 36 original destinations for refugees and has put out a call to see if additional municipalities will be willing to volunteer to host Syrian refugees.
In the meantime, private citizens are stepping in to help with offers to help, officials said.
IRCC has even had to create an ad hoc unit to deal with offers of private donations, officials said.
“The Excel sheet list of these offers now runs 30-35 pages,” an official said.
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