Between 1979 and 1980, the Canadian government accepted nearly 60,000 refugees from Asia and this year it says it’s on track to admit 1,300 Syrian refugees, notes Canada’s public broadcaster, the CBC.
In 1979, there were about 350,000 “boat people” fleeing places like Viet Nam, Cambodia, Laos and Hong Kong for political reasons.
In Syria today, there are 6.5 million internally displaced people and another three million refugees living in camps or with relatives in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.
Not clear exactly how many Syrian refugees have made it to Canada
Tough questions were put to the immigration minister last week about exactly how many Syrian refugees had actually made it to Canada. He could not answer. But since then, there have been reports of individual cases that had been stalled, finally moving forward.
The Canadian Council for Refugees has repeatedly criticized the government currently in power for severe restrictions on who can apply for refugee status and for cuts to the health care provided to them.
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