By CKNW |
It’s a long road ahead to the resettlement of thousands of Syrian refugees in Canada.
Data obtained by The Canadian Press finds concerns with the government-assisted refugee population, whose costs are covered entirely by taxpayers in their first year.
By CKNW |
It’s a long road ahead to the resettlement of thousands of Syrian refugees in Canada.
Data obtained by The Canadian Press finds concerns with the government-assisted refugee population, whose costs are covered entirely by taxpayers in their first year.
The report shows government-assisted refugees have more children, lower language skills and lower education levels compared to those with private sponsors.
While these are common issues among all government-assisted refugees, the challenge is the time frame, with 25,000 refugees needing to be resettled in about two and a half months.
Of the 25-thousand Syrians expected to be in Canada by the end of this month, about two-thirds are expected to be government-assisted.
A total of 25-thousand government-assisted refugees to arrive by the end of 2016.
Immigration Minister John McCallum says they are on track to have all refugees in Canada by the end of February but housing is still a challenge. He says at some point the government will likely need to house refugees on military bases.