Huda Mohammed Ahmed and Minister Chris Alexander

refugee applications: Ahmed, a government-assisted refugee from Iraq, came to Canada with her older brother — but without their mother, whose paperwork has yet to be processed. "I miss my home and my friends," said Ahmed, according to CBC. Last Saturday, Immigration Minister Chris Alexander announced a $25-million plan to allow more refugee applications to be processed. Really I miss her," said Huda Mohammed Ahmed, 14, at a press conference in Vancouver on Monday. Conservative government aims to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees by September 2016Government creates emergency relief fund to aid Syrian crisis victims Refugee crisis, drowned Syrian boy shift focus of election campaign Immigration advocates at the announcement said the quickest way to speed those applications along is to help families who have been separated by war. "Canada needs to put refugee children first and this can happen through an expedited government-assisted program," said Chris Friesen, chair of the Canadian Immigrant Settlement Sector Alliance. Like the other panel members at the conference, B.C. child advocate Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond asked the Canadian government to help reunite refugees with their families. "I can't justify to you the slowness of the process, it inexcusable," said Turpel-Lafond. "I've found the bureaucracy far too complex and burdensome." A woman holds up a photo of her family at a press conference in Vancouver calling for the Canadian government to speed up family reunification. Friesen pointed out that the federal government sped up family reunification for refugees from Kosovo in 1999. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.