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September 4th, 2013

Act now to help refugees and reunite Syrian families

Canada has taken in only 9 refugees in 2013 from war-torn Syria

As the humanitarian tragedy grows, the Conservative government must live up to its promises to speed up the process of reuniting Syrian families.

“Canada has made some contributions to international relief efforts, but we can see a lot more needs to be done,” said Official Opposition critic for Foreign Affairs Paul Dewar. “Syrian Canadians are looking to help their families come to Canada and the government must live up to its commitment to help.”

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees reported yesterday that the Syrian refugee population has doubled over the past six months to two million people, with a further 4.25 million people forced to relocate within Syria. It is the worst refugee crisis the world has seen since the Rwandan genocide some twenty years ago.

“For some time the NDP has been shining a light on the urgency of this humanitarian crisis – and the government had promised to act. Unfortunately, the Minister of Immigration Chris Alexander has remained silent,” said NDP Citizenship and Immigration critic Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe. “On helping refugees displaced by this conflict, there is no reason to wait for other countries – Canada can act right now.”

In July, the Canadian government committed to accepting up to 1,300 Syrian refugees – and yet according to media reports Canada has taken in only nine new Syrian refugees since the beginning of the year.

The NDP encourages Canadians to sign its petition in support of reuniting Syrian families living in Canada, at http://petition.ndp.ca/syria2013.