Govt to give $750k for refugee relief
TORONTO: Canada’s new Liberal government announced on Thursday a US$750,000 (27 million baht) contribution to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to help fleeing Syrians, fulfilling a campaign promise from its recent federal election.
The contribution includes US$7.5 million for the UN refugee agency as part of the programme to resettle thousands of Syrian refugees in Canada over the next few months.
International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said the government will move quickly with the financial disbursement.
“We know that Syrian refugees are cutting on meals, taking on debt to meet their basic daily needs and risking their lives to leave Syria,” she said. “This funding to UNHCR will help to make these decisions a little less difficult by helping to meet basic needs.”
The government also announced it is honouring a commitment made by the previous Conservative government to match donations by Canadians to the international relief efforts. Officials say Canadians have until Dec 31 to make donations, which will be equalled to a ceiling of US$750,000.
Earlier this week, recently elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that his government will resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees by the end of the year and another 15,000 by the end of February.
Mr Trudeau had wanted to resettle 25,000 refugees in Canada by Dec 31 but faced some pushback following the deadly attacks in Paris. Immigration and Refugee Minister John McCallum said they wanted to get it done right so they are taking a little bit more time to process and resettle the refugees.
UN staff in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey are currently working overtime and at weekends to help select the Syrians who will be brought to Canada.
The government is also giving the UN in those countries, as well as in Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Europe, money to help deal more broadly with the effect of the refugee crisis in those countries.
Thursday’s announcement brings to US$728 million the total amount of humanitarian assistance from Canada in response to the Syrian crisis, which has forced 4 million people to leave the conflict-plagued country.
The US plans to take 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next year. Germany saw 758,000 refugees and other migrants arrive between January and October. Sweden is expecting around 200,000 this year.