‘Where are our Syrian refugees?’
Sponsors say they have been left in limbo since Ottawa hit its 25,000 target in February
Where are our Syrian refugee families?
That’s the question many community private sponsorship groups are asking Ottawa after they have spent months collecting donations, securing rental homes and gathering clothes and furniture to support the families that have yet to arrive.
The latest revelation that Ottawa has quietly stopped making it a priority to process Syrian sponsorship applications at its central processing centre in Winnipeg is another kick to the stomach of the private sponsors who responded to the government’s call for support and now feel abandoned.
“The government looked good in those photo ops after they made the 25,000 target in February. Now, they no longer care about the other sponsors and have left us in the cold,” said Thomas Vincent, whose group in Collingwood has been waiting for the arrival of three Syrian families since December and now worries for further delays.
“I get the same question every day: ‘Where are the Syrian refugee families that we are sponsoring?’ We have to say to them, ‘We don’t know.’ It looks silly on us.”
Earlier in March, the Canadian Refugee Sponsorship Agreement Holders Association, whose members connect interested community and faith groups with refugees awaiting resettlement abroad, was told by the immigration department that Syrian applications are no longer a priority.
And worse, Syrian applications submitted by the agreement holders since January are now going to be counted toward the annual caps imposed on them by the immigration department.
Every year, each agreement holder can submit only a limited number of sponsorship applications; this means they now have fewer spots for non-Syrian refugees awaiting resettlement to Canada.
“Between Jan. 1 and Feb. 29, we were encouraged by the (immigration) department to continue to submit Syrian sponsorship applications and hold off on other non-Syrian applications. And now they are bringing these applications under the cap. This was a surprise for us,” said Brian Dyck, president of the agreement holder association.
Although it is still too early to say if the changes will prolong processing time for the remaining sponsored Syrians, the significant reduction in overseas staff brought in to help the government meet the Syrian effort’s February deadline simply creates more anxiety among sponsorship groups.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was pressed on the issue Thursday, but wouldn’t directly address the cuts to resources in processing the Syrians.
“We continue to be engaged with the issue of Syrian refugees, making it a priority to continue to show that Canada is a strong and welcoming country,” Trudeau told The Canadian Press.
Immigration Refugee Citizenship Canada said non-Syrian refugee populations that have been in the queue longer also need to be processed and private sponsorship applications that are submitted now are not expected to arrive this year.
“We know refugees and sponsors are disappointed that expedited processing is not continuing, but the accelerated pace of recent months could not be sustained indefinitely,” said a department spokeswoman, Faith St-John.
In Toronto alone, somewhere between 300 and 350 community groups are still waiting for their Syrian newcomers, said former Toronto mayor John Sewell, who is organizing a community meeting at St. Stephen’s Community House on Wednesday to strategize among sponsorship groups.
“The government has got rid of its staff and they can’t be processed as quickly. You have a chance of getting a family if you’re assigned one before the end of February. Otherwise, you’d have to wait for another seven, eight months or not get it at all,” said Sewell, whose group received its sponsored family of five from Ankara, Turkey, on Feb. 29.
“They have done it without consultation. This is craziness. There are a lot of unhappy, angry people.”
Back in Collingwood, Vincent said his group would be receiving a $1,081 cheque donated by students from St. Mary Public School to add to its $90,000 chest raised for the three families they hope to resettle in the community under a blended sponsorship partnership with the government.
So far, they have already let go one of the three houses they secured, with one in limbo, while the other is being held rent-free by the landlord for two more months before it goes back on the market.
“We have organized for months, have all the volunteers, services, resources in place to sponsor our families and no one can tell us whether it will be one month, six months or a year to obtain our families,” Vincent said.
“Totally unacceptable and an utter waste of our time, money, energy and resources.”