What’s next with 25,000 Syrian refugees resettled in Canada?

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With 25,000 Syrian refugees now on the ground in Canada, refugee advocates want to know what will happen to remaining Syrians and refugees from other countries.

Immigration and Refugee Minister John McCallum has said that Canada may take in as many as 50,000 Syrians by the end of this year.

Loly Rico, president of the Canadian Council for Refugees, lauds the federal government for meeting the promise of 25,000.

But she says it remains to be seen whether the government will extend the measures that allowed them to do so, including waiving repayment of transportation costs for this first wave of Syrian refugees and putting in place additional resources to ensure speedy processing.

“We don’t know what is going to happen to the Syrians coming after today,” Rico tells Yahoo Canada News.

“And it’s not only Syrian refugees that are in crisis.”

Rico says her organization met with Immigration officials on Monday and brought these concerns.

They were told that Canada will continue to resettle Syrians displaced by war in that country but it’s unclear whether the transportation fees will continue to be waived.

“That has to be in place for all refugees,” Rico says.

The federal government has reinstated a program to provide health care coverage for newly arrived refugees.

But it can take years for refugees from other regions to have their applications processed by Canadian officials. The backlog of applications in most areas is up to a year and there is great need in countries like Sudan and Eritrea.

“The processing times could be faster if you have the resources to do it,” she says. “They said they are working to speed up the processing times.”

The federal government has promised to open a new visa office in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, which will help clear the lengthy backlog in the visa office in Nairobi.

A spokesman for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada says Syrian refugees will continue to be accepted as Canada moves toward its goal of 25,000 government-assisted refugees. The current cohort includes both government-assisted and privately-sponsored refugees.

“The government’s commitment to resettling Syrian refugees to Canada will continue in 2016 as both government-supported and privately sponsored Syrian refugees will arrive on commercial flights in the months ahead,” Remi Lariviere tells Yahoo Canada News in an email.

Figures for the number of refugees that have arrived in Canada are only available until the end of September – prior to the ramping up of the Syrian resettlement program.

Some have expressed concern that refugees from other regions are being overlooked as Canada focuses on its high-profile commitment on Syria.

But Lariviere says Canada has commitments to resettle 900 Colombians by the end of this year; 5,000 Iraqis and Iranians by the end of 2017; 2,500 Congolese by the end of 2017; and 4,000 Eritreans by the end of 2018.

“We recognize that there are many refugee populations who need Canada’s protection which is why we continue to process applications for other refugee populations, according to existing processing standards and to the greatest extent possible,” Lariviere says.

Though Canada has been lauded internationally for its resettlement efforts, Canadians are divided, says one recent poll.

The survey released this month by the Angus Reid Institute found that 44 per cent of those polled are opposed to the resettlement plan, while 42 per cent said Canada should stop taking in Syrian refugees immediately.

“Most opponents cited the short timeline as their primary concern,” says the institute report.

Support has increased slightly from surveys conducted during and immediately after the October federal election.

But “the growth in support for the resettlement effort hasn’t alleviated fears about the speed of the process,” the report says.

Twenty-nine per cent of those polled in the most recent survey said 25,000 is enough and 29 per cent said Canada should accept more.