Immigration Minister Chris Alexander says Canada has âdone a lotâ to ease the Middle East migrant crisis and the country should âcontinue accelerating our refugee resettlement, being generous as donors and taking the fight to ISIS.â
Alexander made the comments on CTV Power Play, where he was asked to defend Canadaâs record in helping to assist the millions of people fleeing countries like Syria and Iraq, after a photo of a dead toddler on a beach in Turkey grabbed the worldâs attention.
Alan Kurdi died trying to cross the Mediterranean for asylum in Europe. The boyâs aunt, Tima Kurdi, said that after his uncle had applied for refugee status in Canada and was rejected, she had not pursued a planned application for the Alanâs family.
Alexander announced Wednesday that he would temporarily suspended his re-election campaign to look into the case.
âThe story of this little boy and this family illustrates what is happening to people dying as migrants, to people being slaughtered by extremists, but it also reminds us that we need to continue acting,â he said.
Alexander said that the application of Kurdiâs family was not rejected by Canada but was âreturned to the family because it required additional documentation -- in this case, a convention refugee determination status from the UNHCR.â
âThis case was passed along to the department and decided according to the rules that would govern consideration of any application,â he said.
Alexander said Canada has agreed to take 50,000 refugees from the two countries impacted by ISIS, and that âover half are here, mostly from Iraq, but the Syrian numbers are scaling up.â
Alexander elaborated that about 2,500 Syrians refugees have been resettled in Canada and that this ârepresents an acceleration.â He said he expects âmany thousands moreâ from Syria to be resettled by the end of this year.
âWe have brought the processing time down,â the minister added. âItâs not easy, itâs a complex process, but no country does it better than Canada.â
Alexander said that he doesnât think any country has done more to resettle refugees who have fled to countries like Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon. Alexander made a distinction between those refugees and âasylum seekers â the type that are going to Europe today.â
In his statement Thursday, Alexander said that Canada âhas one of the most generous per capita immigration and refugee resettlement programs in the world.â
The statement said Canada has already resettled 22,000 refugees from Iraq and 2,300 from Syria, after promising to bring in 23,000 Iraqis and 11,300 Syrians over several years.
Stephen Harper has also said that a re-elected Conservative government would bring in 10,000 more refugees from the Middle East over the next four years.
Experts dispute âmost generousâ claim
Immigration lawyer Lorne Waldman other countries in taking in refugees.
Sweden, for example, has taken in tens of thousands, despite having about one-third of Canadaâs population. Germany is expected to take in at least 800,000 asylum seekers this year.
âTo compare us to Sweden or Germany, itâs pretty embarrassing,â Waldman said.
Queenâs University Professor Sharry Aiken, who specializes in international refugee law, said for a Canadian to sponsor someone as a refugee, that person has to be formally recognized by the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.
âIf you havenât gotten that letter from the UNHCR, you canât get out the door,â she told ŰÎŰ´ŤĂ˝ Channel from Kingston, Ont.
In dire situations, such as the Syrian civil war, such a process doesnât work, she said.
âCertainly, if we dropped that requirement, if we were willing to recognize that we were dealing with a crisis right now, we have to have an evacuation plan and we deal with the technicalities ⌠that would make a big difference,â she said.