Now help them settle

Ottawa’s announcement this week that it is prepared to take in 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next three years is long past due, and most welcome as far as it goes. The Syrian refugee crisis is now without parallel in the world.

But hold the applause. The devil, as always, is in the details. And there’s widespread concern among organizations dedicated to helping refugees over the conditions Ottawa has attached to its offer, provisos that could mean the 10,000 target may never be reached.

The first concern is that according to Immigration Minister Chris Alexander, 60 per cent of those refugees must be brought to Canada under private sponsorships by charities and groups, while only 40 per cent would be government-assisted moves. It’s far from clear that private organizations can fill that mandate.

As Amnesty International points out, they are run mostly by volunteers who must raise money through donations to sponsor each refugee they resettle.

And the costs can be great. The Canadian Council for Refugees estimates it costs $12,000 a year, plus expenses for setting up a household and paying for health care (which is not covered by Ottawa), to settle a refugee.

There’s another concern that could mean the goal of 10,000 will not be met. Canada had been slow to bring in the 1,300 refugees it had initially committed to settling, raising fears it will not devote the administrative resources it needs to ensure that future applications will be processed fairly and rapidly.

That would be tragic. Syrian refugees desperately need Canada to open its doors much wider. Refugees fleeing the 3- 1⁄ year bloody civil war, which has killed

2 200,000, make up the world’s largest refugee population. Amnesty estimates there are 4 million refugees in the region and another 7.6 million Syrians displaced within their own country. Many of the refugees are starving in camps in cold winter conditions. The UN has been desperate to resettle those most in need, and had been pleading with Canada to take in more.

So Ottawa’s offer — a huge increase over its original commitment to take in only 1,300 — is a welcome about-face. As well, the federal government announced an additional $90 million in aid to the region, on top of the generous $630 million that Canada had already set aside to help the refugees.

Ottawa is doing the right thing with its announced intention to resettle10,000 Syrians. Now it should ensure it can meet that target by devoting enough resources to get refugees quickly settled in Canada — and by rethinking the requirement that private groups take responsibility for bringing in 60 per cent of the migrants.

Refugees living in the direst of circumstances are depending on it.