Ruth Bonneville: Government Assistance

Carlos Vialard Dept: Canada resettled fewer refugees last year despite the government's promise to help more in 2012, according to Winnipeg Free Press. "The government-assisted numbers didn't come in the way we expected." Ruth Bonneville / Archives Canada ramped up staffing at its Middle East office in Damascus, before it closed in January 2012, to process Christian refugees from Iran and Iraq, says Tom Denton. "We had 320 arrivals under government assistance -- well under the target of 519," said Carlos Vialard, co-manager of settlement services for the Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council's Welcome Place. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.