“A surge of Syrian refugees will land in Canada at the height of the holiday season, causing logistical challenges for welcoming parties but giving the asylum seekers a quick taste of the country’s giving spirit, Immigration Minister John McCallum said.
Details of the operation continue to evolve, but federal officials remain confident that 10,000 Syrian refugees will arrive in Canada by Dec. 31, with the large majority of them landing in the last 10 days of the year. The government has brought in three planeloads of refugees over the past week, but the operation is set to increase, with two to four planes landing in Toronto and Montreal every day.
The next planned flight will leave Beirut for Toronto on Dec. 18, while a detailed schedule of daily departures will be announced in coming days,” wrote Daniel Leblanc for The Globe and Mail on Wednesday December 16, 2015.
Leblanc continued, “The government still needs to bring in nearly 9,000 refugees over a two-week period to meet its target of 10,000 by the end of the month. Of those, 6,500 will be sponsored by individuals and groups, while 3,500 will be sponsored by the government.
The government has increased its capacity to conduct health screenings from 600 a week to 800 a day, federal officials said at a briefing. Overall, the officials said they are on their way to identifying a total of 25,000 refugees by the end of the year, who will be brought in by the end of February.”
Read the full article here.
Raymond Matt, CFP, CLU, TEP, CHS
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