By Piali Roy
We are caught up in a waiting game.
Our group was matched to a Syrian refugee family in mid-February, but since the federal government reached the goal of bringing 25,000 refugees to Canada by early 2016, the process has slowed considerably.
The family’s application is currently “in process”. Medical reports have been completed, but the family is waiting for the Canadian visa office to conduct the required interviews.
We have no
word yet on a date for those interviews--or for the family's arrival in Canada. In March, we were told it could be an eight
or nine-month wait. We were
assured that families who were already being processed, like ours, would arrive sometime in 2016!
Now, after much public protest, Immigration Minister John McCallum has announced that offices handling Syrian refugee applications in Lebanon and Winnipeg will have their staffing increased in a bid to speed up the process.
Good news, but again, we have no concrete information on the speed of change.
Mr. McCallum has said the wait will be longer than three months.We appreciate the ongoing support and patience from everyone who has donated to or supported our project.
If we are frustrated, just think how it feels to be in Beirut, waiting to hear back from the government.
We are caught up in a waiting game.
Our group was matched to a Syrian refugee family in mid-February, but since the federal government reached the goal of bringing 25,000 refugees to Canada by early 2016, the process has slowed considerably.
The family’s application is currently “in process”. Medical reports have been completed, but the family is waiting for the Canadian visa office to conduct the required interviews.
We have no
word yet on a date for those interviews--or for the family's arrival in Canada. In March, we were told it could be an eight
or nine-month wait. We were
assured that families who were already being processed, like ours, would arrive sometime in 2016! Now, after much public protest, Immigration Minister John McCallum has announced that offices handling Syrian refugee applications in Lebanon and Winnipeg will have their staffing increased in a bid to speed up the process.
Good news, but again, we have no concrete information on the speed of change.
Mr. McCallum has said the wait will be longer than three months.We appreciate the ongoing support and patience from everyone who has donated to or supported our project.
If we are frustrated, just think how it feels to be in Beirut, waiting to hear back from the government.
