Catholic Centre for Immigrants and Carl Nicholson

government-assisted: More children than expected are among many of the challenges facing the 36 cities currently accepting government-assisted Syrian refugees as efforts continue to settle 25,000 people in total by the end of February, according to Toronto Star. We have a lot of families who are eight, seven and our housing stock as a community is not strong on those sizes, said Carl Nicholson, executive director, Catholic Centre for Immigrants, which handles the settlement of government-assisted refugees in the national capital. Curious about the new world around their family at the hotel they currently call home, the youngster pulled the fire alarm, sending hundreds of people out into a cold winter night. In Ottawa, Vancouver and Toronto, temporary accommodation is at or near capacity, prompting those cities to ask that the flow of cases be stopped or slowed until they can open up beds for more arrivals, immigration officials said Thursday. The Immigration Department also included Halifax on that list, but groups there say they are managing the numbers coming in. Other cities they named include Prince Albert, Sask., although the provincial immigration minister said there is no need to delay arrivals in that province. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.