United Nations Refugee Agency and Tories Tories

Tories Tories: Syrians and Iraqis fleeing civil war and sectarian conflict will no longer have to prove they are convention refugees under the United Nations Refugee Agency, but will be presumed to be refugees by Canadian authorities for the purposes of vetting their applications, according to CBC. Refugee crisis shifts focus of election campaign Airlift of refugees would be 'terribly imprudent,' Tories say Tories creates emergency relief fund to aid Syrians Has the UN asked Canada to take 9,000 refugees by Christmas The UN has conceded it has been overwhelmed by claims for refugee status in recent months, resulting in a considerable backlog of applications. "Today, by designating them differently, we are greatly expanding the potential for candidates and sponsorship with the private partners across Canada," said Alexander, who running for re-election in the riding of Ajax, Ont., for the Oct. 19 federal vote. "We will move quickly and above all responsibly — security screening will remain the top priority," he added. Immigration Minister Chris Alexander said the new measures mean the 10,000 Syrian refugees the government previously promised to resettle in the next three years would instead be brought to Canada by September 2016 — "a full 15 months earlier than anticipated," he told reporters in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough. Alexander also said the government would deploy additional officers to missions abroad and that applications from Syrians and Iraqis will be handled within six months of being filed. "Some of our officers have already reached the missions that are most involved in the resettlement efforts," he said. "We will have more human resources hitting the ground in the coming days and weeks." "We will do all of that by cutting red tape," the minister said in French, adding that a special co-ordinator will be appointed to handle the overall file of Syrian and Iraqi refugees by working with community partners and other levels of government. The government would also allow groups of five and families to sponsor those who have not yet received convention refugee status. On the Canadian side, Alexander said the government is doubling the size of the workforce at the Winnipeg processing centre where all applications are handled. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.