Syrian refugees booked on 1st flights to Canada total 305

More than 300 Syrian refugees have been booked on flights to Canada from camps in the Middle East, Canadian government officials say.

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Today's news comes as the first planes carrying refugees areset to arrive at two of the country's busiest airportslate next week.

ImmigrationMinister John McCallum announcedthat government officialswill briefjournalists once a week in an effort to keep Canadians informed on the plan to resettle 10,000 refugees by year's end and another 15,000 refugees by March 1, 2016.

McCallum said on Tuesday that Canadianscould welcome even more refugees next year, bringingthe total number of Syrians resettled in Canadaas high as 50,000.

"We will have an unknown number of additional private [sponsored refugees]," said McCallum, "and so my guess, it will probably be in the range of 35,000-50,000."

A total of 271 Syrian refugees have already arrived in Canada since Nov. 4, said officials in Ottawa on Wednesday.

The majority208 Syrian refugeesare privatelysponsored refugees,52 are being resettled by thegovernmentand 11 are here thanks to a mix of the two.

This is in addition to the 3,089 Syrian refugees who arrived in Canada from Jan. 1 to Nov. 3.

The government's plan to resettle 25,000 refugees will be implemented in five phases at a cost of up to $378 million over six years.

The five phases are:

1. Identifying Syrian refugees who want to come to Canada.
2. Processing,screening and selecting refugees overseas.
3. Arranging for their traveltoCanada.
4. Welcoming and screening refugees upon their arrival in Canada.
5. Ensuring theirlong-term resettlement and integration into society.

Priority for those who pose 'low security risk'

Canada has asked the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to give priority to refugees who pose a "low security risk" such ascomplete families, women at risk, gays and lesbians, and single men identified as vulnerable due to membership in the LGBT community or those who are accompanying parents as part of a family.

To help fast-track the applications, the government is deploying some 441 staff to two dedicated visa offices in Jordan and Lebanon, where the UN refugee agency has been contacting potential applicants in camps by text message and by phone.

The process is similar in Turkey, but it'sthe government not the UN that is responsible for directly communicating directly with and registering Syrian refugees.

Security screening includes verifying the identity ofrefugees whohave expressed interest in coming to Canadaagainst their photo registration cards andiris scans.

The CanadaBorder Services Agency will also screen the refugees prior to their departure for Canada and upon arrival.

To date, some 1,015 refugees have received permanent resident visas to come to Canada but have yet to arrive.

Here are the latest numbers, last updated at the end of November, provided by the government on Wednesday:

Housing thousands of refugees

9 years ago

Duration 8:43

Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship John McCallum discusses the resettlement of refugees and the search for adequate housing for thousands of Syrians

By the numbers:

In Canada

271 Syrian refugees who have arrivedin Canada since Nov. 4

• 208 Syrian refugees who have arrived throughprivatesponsors
• 52 Syrian refugees who have arrived throughgovernment sponsorship.
• 11 Syrian refugees who have arrived through a blended government-private process.
• 65 Communities across the country (not including Quebec) that are preparing to resettle refugees over the long term.
• 36 Cities across the country,13in Quebec and 23 in the rest of Canada, that will initially welcome Syrian refugees even if on a temporary basis.

In progress

• 9,090 Syrianrefugee resettlements applications that are currently inprogress.
• 36 per cent Syrian refugeesunder the age 18.
• 1,015 Syrian refugees thathave been issued permanent residency visas to come toCanada, but have not yet arrived.

UN refugee agency contacts

• 41,050 text messages sent by the UN refugee agency to potential applicants to see if they are interested in coming to Canada.
• 33,218 text messages sent by the UN refugee agencyto refugees in Jordan
• 7,832 text messages by the UN refugee agencyto refugees in Lebanon.
• 28,560 Syrianrefugees contacted by the UN refugee agency over thephone.
• 3,049 Syrian refugees thatshowed up for interviews after being contacted by the UN refugee agency.
• 1,801 Syrian refugeesreferred by the UN refugee agencyto Canadian immigration officialsfor resettlement.
• 1,216 Syrianrefugees referred from Jordan.
• 585 Syrian refugees referredfrom Lebanon.

Identifying Syrian refugees who want to come to Canada has proven to be somewhat of a challenge.

Out of the tens of thousands of Syrian refugees contacted by the UN refugee agency by text and by phone, a little over 3,000 refugees showed upfor interviews.

While some contact information will inevitablybe out of date, government officials in Ottawa said some Syrian refugees are simply finding it difficult to leave their friends and family behind.

The government will update the latest figures on an ongoing basis.