Syrian refugees bound for P.E.I. stymied by application backlog

Agroup of Islanders wasexpecting to welcome a Syrian refugee family to P.E.I. months ago.

They're still waiting. How much longer is anyone's guess.

The KensingtonArea Refugee Sponsorship Initiative said it submitted its application in 2016 to sponsor a refugee family, currently living in Turkey.

This week, it received a letter from Immigration, Refugeesand CitizenshipCanada stating itcould be another sevento eightmonths for their application to be fully processed.

Furthermore, the group saysthe family has not yet been processed forany medical or security checks or participated in formal interviews, which the group said can be a lengthy process depending on what they find out when the process starts.

When they started the process, said Patricia Bennett, co-chair of KARSI, they were actually concerned they wouldn't have enough time to prepare for the family's arrival.

"As it turns out, we've had loads of time to get ready," she said. "And in fact have rented a house, which we did have to let go and that was disappointing."

The letter indicated the refugee family has fulfilled all the requirements for sponsorship status, Bennett said.

Working to reduce delays

It said the delays arecaused by a backlog of privately sponsored refugee applications, and that IRCCis working to reduce wait times, Bennett said.

She said the letter also stated IRCC hopes to eliminate the backlog by 2019, but as it implements measures, it could in the short term increase processing times for older applications, Bennett added.

"I'm guessing that's probably what's happening with our application," she said. "That it's caught up in that whole new, I guess, process."

The government of Canada has previously saidit is working to improve communication with refugee sponsors, and cautions groups not to start paying for accommodations too early in case circumstances change.

KARSIhas the funds $30,000 to support the family, Bennett said, but there is still a lot to be done once the family arrives.

The KARSIcommittee has met with similar sponsorship groups in Tyne Valley, Bedeque and Charlottetown to talk about the delays and come up with a strategy to start writing to MPs and the immigration minister for answers.

"Everybody talked about exactly the same thing," Bennett said. "How are we going to keep our supporters motivated with these delays?"

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