Canada to accept additional 10,000 Syrian refugees

Berlin, (IINA) - Canada’s Immigration Minister John McCallum said that his country will take in an additional 10,000 Syrian refugees, adding to the more than 25,000 already received in the last few months, The Guardian reported.
McCallum told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp (CBC) he was responding to complaints from Canadian groups who want to sponsor Syrian refugees but did not have their applications processed quickly enough to be among the government’s initial target of 25,000.
“We are doing everything we can to accommodate the very welcomed desire on the part of Canadians to sponsor refugees”, McCallum said.
A total of 26,200 Syrian refugees had arrived in Canada as of 28 March, according to the immigration department. But nearly 16,000 more applications are in process or have been finalized, even though the refugees have not yet arrived, according to official figures.
McCallum said he had instructed bureaucrats to extend the deadline for submitting sponsorship applications to Thursday from the initial 1 March deadline, which should allow the department to process the backlog.
AG/IINA

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