Members of Riverdale Refugee Lifeline have recently been in touch with Julie Dabrusin, the Liberal Member of Parliament for Toronto-Danforth, to discuss our concerns about the abrupt slowdown in the processing of Syrian refugees since Feburary..
That's when the government reached it's self-defined goal of bringing 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada.
Having done so, the government pulled its personnel from the Middle East and drastically cut back on the number of employees processing refugee claims at its Winnipeg offices.
In a letter to Ms. Dabrusin, and in a follow-up meeting on April 22, our members pressed for a resumption of the emergency response to the Syrian crisis.
We emphasized that Syrian refugees should not be counted among the government's normal refugee numbers, but should be over and above, to reflect the special situation faced by Syrians in light of the horrific war in that country--and so that refugees from other countries would not be disadvantaged by a special effort to assist Syrians.
We told her that our family has been waiting months in Lebanon since being matched to our group, awaiting only their final interview before being brought to Canada. Neither we nor the family know when that will take place. The government appears to be saying it could be a year or longer. We asked for greater speed and greater transparency in the process.
Ms. Dabrusin responded by providing us a letter she has written to John McCallum, the Minister of Immigration and Refugees, which you can read below, or by clicking here for a larger version.
The wait continues.
That's when the government reached it's self-defined goal of bringing 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada.
Having done so, the government pulled its personnel from the Middle East and drastically cut back on the number of employees processing refugee claims at its Winnipeg offices.
In a letter to Ms. Dabrusin, and in a follow-up meeting on April 22, our members pressed for a resumption of the emergency response to the Syrian crisis.
We emphasized that Syrian refugees should not be counted among the government's normal refugee numbers, but should be over and above, to reflect the special situation faced by Syrians in light of the horrific war in that country--and so that refugees from other countries would not be disadvantaged by a special effort to assist Syrians.
We told her that our family has been waiting months in Lebanon since being matched to our group, awaiting only their final interview before being brought to Canada. Neither we nor the family know when that will take place. The government appears to be saying it could be a year or longer. We asked for greater speed and greater transparency in the process.
Ms. Dabrusin responded by providing us a letter she has written to John McCallum, the Minister of Immigration and Refugees, which you can read below, or by clicking here for a larger version.
The wait continues.
