Quiet changes to Syrian private sponsorship program create confusion
Posted Mar 24, 2016 1:24 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA – The Liberals have made a series of changes to the Syrian refugee resettlement program, creating confusion among private sponsors about the length of time it’s going to take the newcomers to arrive.
Caps on the number of private-sponsor applications for 2016, a significant decrease in the number of overseas staff and the return of a controversial travel loan program are all prompting questions about what happened to the Liberals’ apparent focus on Syrian refugees.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been pressed on the issue, but hasn’t gone into detail about the changes.
Immigration Minister John McCallum suggests he is working on a way to keep applications flowing quickly.
Tuesday’s federal budget earmarked an additional $245 million to bring in the remaining 10,000 government-assisted Syrian refugees to meet the Liberals’ original commitment to bring 25,000 of them to Canada.
It has never been clear exactly how many Syrians would be accepted under the private sponsorship program, though 17,800 spaces overall for that stream have been set aside in this year’s immigration plan.
