NDP urges government to settle 10,000 refugees by end of 2015

CTVNews.ca Staff,  Published Saturday, September 5, 2015 7:12AM EDT, Last Updated Saturday, September 5, 2015 12:30PM EDT, Source

The refugee crisis is dominating the weekend campaign trail, as the NDP urged the government to settle 10,000 refugees in Canada by the end of the year.

At a news conference Saturday, NDP Foreign Affairs Critic Paul Dewar said it's time for all of the federal parties to put campaign politics aside and focus on helping those desperately fleeing Syria and Iraq.

"We have reached out to the government now, because we don't need to wait until October to start this work," he said.

Dewar said the parties should work together to immediately establish a Syrian refugee coordinator, who would oversee a multi-departmental effort to fast-track the government-sponsored refugees.

He also said that while fast-tracking refugees would be a good start, it is not enough.

According to Dewar, an NDP government would also do the following to address the crisis:

• Settle 9,000 government-sponsored refugees each year starting in 2016 for four years;
• Fast-track private sponsorship, with no limits or caps;
• Provide health care to the refugees.

Dewar said NDP Leader Tom Mulcair has consulted with experts and refugee advocacy groups in crafting the plan.

"We want to see the government work with all parties to do this," he said. "We'll be asking to government to take a look at (the plan) and adopt it."

He noted that the NDP plan is keeping in line with the numbers set by the UN, which has set Canada’s share of the global refugee total at 9,000 per year. Francois Crepeau, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, has called on the West to settle a million Syrian refugees over the next five years.

The proposed NDP plan would cost about $74 million for this year, he said. The costs would include expenses for visas, resettlement money, and health-care services. If elected, the plan to settle an additional 9,000 annually for the next four years would cost about $63.8 million per year, he said.

The proposed plan comes as thousands of migrants continue to stream across European borders, hoping to escape the violence in Syria and Iraq.

It also comes days after a photo of a dead Syrian boy who drowned off the coast of Turkey caught the world's attention. The photo of Alan Kurdi, 3, quickly spread across Canada, and it was later discovered that the Kurdi family had hoped to settle here.

Earlier this week, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau called on Ottawa to immediately accept 25,000 Syrian refugees, something he says the Liberals would do if they form the next government.

Immigration Minister Chris Alexander said in a statement Thursday that Canada has already resettled 22,000 refugees from Iraq, and 2,300 from Syria, after promising to bring 23,000 Iraqis and 11,300 Syrians over here over several years.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has said that if re-elected, the Tories would bring in 10,000 more refugees from the Middle East over the next four years.