The resettlement of Syrian refugees was one of the items on the Trudeau cabinet’s agenda Thursday, but, the specifics of the plan have yet to be released.
Neither Prime Minister Justin Trudeau nor Immigration Minister John McCallum would clarify if private sponsors will also have a role in the plan to help 25,000 Syrians come here by year’s end.
Originally, the government promised to bring them here and then encourage private groups like churches to do even more.
Trudeau says meeting that target will be a challenge but notes Canadians have demonstrated a willingness to do more.
And when McCallum was pressed for specifics he says ”we want a mix of the two (government and private sponsorship).”
The immigration minister adds the plan will be outlined in ”coming days.”
Currently, there are about 10,000 refugee applications in the pipeline.
Since the start of the year nearly 6,000 have been received from private sponsors, who are responsible for helping the refugees resettle.