McCallum promise to boost privately sponsored Syrian refugees spawns confusion

Immigration Minister JohnMcCallumpromised Thursday to process allapplications from sponsorship agreement holders wishing to help resettleSyrian refugees, following complaints from private sponsorsover delays in thearrivals of Syrians.

But anxious officials inMcCallum'soffice were forced to clarify late Thursdaywhat seemed like apledge by the minister earlier in the day to process an additional 10,000 applications from private sponsorship groups.

McCallumwasin BerlinThursdayto meetwith Germany'sMinister of the Interior Thomas de Maizire.

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"This question of whether an additional 10,000 privately sponsored Syrian refugee applications will be processed in 2016 has caused some confusion," officials inMcCallum'sofficesaid in anemailto CBC News.

"The critical message is thatIRCCwillnot be processing 10,000 additional privatelysponsored Syrian refugees."

Government officials told CBC the Department of Immigration will ensure the "timely processing" of all privately sponsored applications submitted up until todayMarch 31.

In addition to that, the government is removinga 10,500 cap it had previously put in place forapplications from sponsorship agreement holders who responded to the government's plea for help in resettling Syrian refugees.

Officials inMcCallum'soffice explained to CBC that if the department receivesmore than 10,500 applications for privately sponsored refugees, that means there would be less room for privately sponsored refugees from other countries. Similarly, if fewer applications are received for Syrian refugees, then more could be resettled privately from other countries.

"The overall target of 17,800 for privately sponsored refugees remains the same," government officials clarified late Thursday.

In a phone interview with CBC News from Berlin earlier in the day, McCallum said"Weare doing everything we can to accommodate the very welcomed desire on the part of Canadians to sponsor refugees."

"Already we have 44,000we have four times that are resettled refugees than beforeand now in addition, I'm adding this commitment to honour the 10,000 in our inventory of privately sponsored refugees by the end of 2016. So that's a further increase. So it's way more than ever before in recenthistory,"McCallumsaid Thursday morning before the clarification from his officials.

"We're going all out to meet the demand," he said.

Some changes welcomed despite 'confusion'

Today's announcementcomesafter former Toronto mayor JohnSewell, who is part of a group sponsoring a Syrian refugee family, organized an"emergency meeting" last night to discuss delaysin the arrivals of privately sponsored Syrians.

Despite the apparent "confusion,"BrianDyck, the chair of the Sponsorship Agreement Holders Council, told CBC News he welcomedMcCallum'sannouncement.

"We had asked that Syrian applications submitted from Jan. 1 to March 1 not be counted in the cap and they extended that up to March 31,"Dycksaid on Thursday after his group received a letter from the minister detailing the new changes.

In the letter, obtained independentlyby CBC News,McCallumsaid that "all privately sponsored refugee applications already submitted for Syrian refugees that is, up to March 31, 2016 will be in addition to the spaces we will be making available for sponsorship agreement holders as part of the usual allocation process for 2016, and will not be counted against the cap of 10,500."

He also said the government would do its best to ensure that processing more applications for privatelysponsored refugees from Syria would not result in delays for refugees coming from other countries.

"The department will try to minimize the impact on drawing down the inventory of non-Syrian privately sponsored refugees in 2016,"McCallumsaid in the letter sent to the Canadian Sponsorship Agreement Holders Association last night.

"This is a significant letter," saidDyckthe chair of the SAH council."It basically gave us everything we asked for and a bit more."

'Smoke and mirrors'

WhileMcCallumis making more room for privately sponsored refugees from Syria, he said the processing of their applications won't be finalized "before the end of 2016 or early in 2017."

Thomas Vincent, the co-chair of theCollingwoodSyrian family sponsorship group, called today's announcement "smoke and mirrors," saying it will do nothing to get privately sponsored refugees here faster.

Vincent represents agroup of private sponsors in the town ofCollingwood, Ont., who have raised $90,000 to sponsor two Syrian families.

According to Vincent, theCollingwoodgroup submitted what the government calls ablended visa office-referred (BVORs) application, which will allow the Syrian families to receive income support for at least 12 months through a mix of private and public funds.

But without additional resources in place to speed up their applications, Vincent said, "It's smoke and mirrors. We're back in the same spot.Nothing has really changed."

"To me it's a political out," Vincent told CBC News in phone interview Thursday.

Vincent said the government should workwith the private sector to deliver better results.

"The government has an opportunity here to take a look at the private sector and turn around and see what we've beenable to do faster, quicker, better than the government and save them millions of dollars."

Vincent said theCollingwoodgroup has had hundreds of volunteers on standby ready to help with housing, language, transportation and computer services to help the Syrian refugees integrate into their new communities.

"Meanwhile, we just sit and wait," Vincent said.

80%of refugees in permanent homes

The Liberal government has resettled just over 26,000 Syrian refugees since coming into power on Nov 4. That includes 15,001 government-assisted refugees, 8,981 privately sponsored refugees, and 2,225 refugees resettled through a mix of public and private funding, according to numbers posted on the government websiteon March 28.

Vincent also notedthat private groups were prepared to temporarily lodge some of the government-assisted refugees that are still being lodged in hotelswhile they wait for the Syrianfamilies to arrive.

ButMcCallumtold CBC News that80 per cent of the 15,000government-assisted refugeesare now in permanent housing.

The immigration ministeracknowledged that today's announcement willnot please everyone.

"The Sponsorship Agreement Holders Council has expressed satisfaction with this ... now I understand that not everyone is necessarily happy, but I think we've gone out of our way to create maximum room for privately sponsored refugees."

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