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Eritrean Backlog: Syrian Refugees and Canada

eritrean backlog: From left, Debretsion amd Senait Abbe and their children, Merken, 9, Merhawi, 10, and Mesuna, 5, according to Toronto Star. They spent three years in a Sudanese refugee camp before arriving in Canada, sponsored by family and friends. Unlike the media frenzy that marked the arrival of the first of 60,000 Syrian refugees to Canada, federal officials have quietly achieved another immigration feat that has largely gone unnoticed They eliminated one of the country's worst refugee resettlement backlogs and ushered in 12,000 Eritreans to begin new lives in Canada. RICK MADONIK / TORONTO STAR Ottawa began tackling the Eritrean backlog in 2015 at the same time world attention was focused on the desperate plight of Syrian refugees. But thanks to an inspired collaboration between frontline visa officers on two continents, most of the Eritrean refugees were resettled in Canada by December. The Eritreans, who fled President Isaias Afwerki's oppressive military regime, had been languishing for years in refugee camps in Sudan, where they, again, were often subjected to violence. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.