Number Changes and Political Leaders

political leaders: She hoping that same humanitarian spirit will rise again and is encouraging Ottawa to make a number of changes and loosen some of the regulations involving resettlement. "In every major refugee crisis in the last century it was political will that moved the mountains — to bring the Hungarian refugees in 1956, the Czech refugees in the 1960s, the Ismailis in the 1970s, the Indo-Chinese in the 1980s," says Omidvar. "In each instance it was political leadership that moved the mountains." "Today we call on the government of Canada and all our political leaders to go beyond election promises and deliver." She not alone in suggesting political will could dramatically change the outcome of the Syrian refugee crisis, according to Hamilton Spectator. University of Toronto law professor and immigration and refugee specialist Audrey Macklin wonders why Canada should even limit the number of privately sponsored Syrian refugees but rather take its lead from Sweden and Germany and open our doors. "We have seen when the government has the political will to diminish the impediments they can do so," says Macklin, pointing to the resettlement of 60,000 Vietnamese boat people between 1979 and 1981 or 5,000 Kosovars in 1999, Chilean refugees post Allende overthrow and South Asians after their expulsion from Uganda. Speaking at a news conference in Toronto, Omidvar has called on Ottawa to act speedily to help Syrian refugees, recounting how in other eras both the Conservative and Liberal governments put regulations aside and did everything in their power to resettle refugees in Canada. To speed up refugee resettlement Lifeline Syria and other groups are hoping Ottawa will relax some of the regulations that now make private sponsorship so lengthy and complex. Currently, private refugee resettlement can be handled in two different ways — through sponsorship by a group of five or more individuals and through sponsorship by groups such as the Mennonite Central Committee which have leaseholder agreements with the government dating back to 1979. First on the list of most advocates is that the government loosens its requirement that Syrian refugees being sponsored by private groups of five must be designated as refugees by the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.