Liberals' revised plan on refugee resettlement angers sponsors

After fulfilling an election promise to bring in 25,000 Syrian refugees, the federal Liberal government is scaling back its efforts to help settle Syrians in Canada.

For the sponsors awaiting their arrival, that is frustrating.

• Syrian refugee application backlog frustrates groups
• UN chief Ban ki-Moon urges countries to let in more Syrian refugees
• Syrian refugee sponsors upset with slowing pace of arrivals

For the refugees waiting, that's a life-altering decision. It means many refugees will have to stay put wherever they are until next year before their applications are processed.

MustafaAlio, a Syrian whose father remains in the war-torn country while his mother, sister and her children are in Turkey, recently found out his applications to bring them all to Canada will have to wait until 2017.

He is desperately looking for ways to reunite with his family.

"It's not a pleasant situation," he toldMetro Morning.

Getting to Turkey was an ordeal for his family, Alio said. When they got there, they were under the impression it would be four to six months to process them before they could travelto Canada. That timelineshifted while they were there.

And now that they're in Turkey, they are not permitted to work or study, which means Alio'ssister cannot continue universityand his nephew cannot start school. "They can't do anything," he said.

The situation is more stark for Alio's father.

"He is in danger in Syria," Alio said, but could not get into details for fear of reprisals in Syria. "I want him, as soon as possible, out of there."

But temporary staff hired to process refugees in the Middle East are no longer workingand the federal government ceased charter flights from places like Lebanon.

Sponsors concerned

Private sponsors of Syrian newcomers are just learning that the families they were expecting in Canada are not coming anytime soon. Former Toronto mayor John Sewell is one of those sponsors. He's hosting a meeting about the delays in Toronto.

"Many, many sponsor groups who have come together, raised the money, actually rented the apartment [for Syrians], have all of a sudden learned, 'hey, you might not be getting them for six monthsor eight monthsor maybe even year,'" Sewell told Metro Morning. "It's extraordinary."

Private sponsors areresponsible for Syrian newcomers for their first year in Canada. They collectively spent months collecting donations, finding homes and accepting clothingand furniture donations to support the families that have yet to arrive.

"As far as we can figure out, the federal government unilaterally, without notifying people, decided right after February 29 they would get rid of all the temporary staff they had to process refugees in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanonand get rid of the temporary staff in Winnipeg that does the internal processing here," Sewellsaid.

"They don't have any mechanism to deal well with processing refugees."

Sponsors many of whom rented and furnished homes in preparation for incoming Syrians are angry, said Sewell.

Metro Morning9:11Sponsors could have to wait months for Syrian refugees

The federal government is scaling back efforts to resettle Syrian refugees in Canada. Matt Galloway spoke with John Sewell, who's hosting a public meeting on the issue tonight at St. Stehpen's, and Mustafa Alio, who is trying to bring his family to Canada

'Really easy' solution

Sewell maintains that it doesn't cost the government a lot of money to keep the resettlement process going. The private sponsorship scheme has largely taken the cost of resettlement out of the government's hands, he said.

"We can easily do more," he said.

"We've got to get back and get those temporary staff in line so we can bring those people over."

Sewell wants angry sponsors to get together to come up with a very clear plan for what they will ask the Trudeau government to do.

He said one message he'd like to hear is a demand to simply finish processing those refugees who have sponsors.

"How about the government says, 'We're going to make sure that every sponsorship group that is ready is going to get a family within a three-month period," he said. "That would be one really easy thing that would make people happy."

That might bring another 15,000 refugees to Canada, he estimates. That would mean about 4,000 to Toronto.

'How do you tell them?'

When Alio first heard the news about the processing delay, he thought the situation would resolve itself and the refugee processing would resume at some point. But it did not.

"I was a little bit outraged," Alio said.

He held off on telling his family the news. They waited in Turkeyand for nearly a month, he didn't mention. He couldn't bear to tell them. "How do you tell them?" he asked.

"I haven't seen them for seven years, because I couldn't go back to Syria. And my mom said, 'OK, we're coming, it's going to be four to six months.' And going back and telling them it's going to be 2017. Imagine that conversation."

Even when he decided to tell his family the news in late March, it was hard for them to comprehend.

"I need to explain [it to them]. And I don't have enough information to explain," he said.

After five years of bloodshed in Syria, Alio was hopeful to see his family again in Canada. Now he is calling on the government to restore that hope.

"Canada has done almost nothing in resettlement the past four years. Right now we just started to do something. Three months, 25,000 Syrians it's not enough. It's a good effort, but I don't think it's enough," he said.

"Canada never regretted its moments of compassion 60,000 Vietnamese, 35,000 Hungarians. So why not more Syrians right now? Why do we have to put a cap on compassion?"

The meeting to discuss the Liberals' revised refugee plan will be held at The Church of Saint Stephen-in-the-Fields at 103 Bellevue Ave at 7 p.m.