Refugee Resettlement and Member Countries

formal request: June: — The UN makes its first formal request to member countries to assist in refugee resettlement, asking for 30,000 spaces by the end of 2014, according to Huffington Post Canada. July: — The Harper Conservatives promise to admit 1,300 Syrian refugees by the end of 2014, with the majority sponsored by private groups. Those files were transferred to nearby countries, leaving visa officers scrambling to handle them and the start of a surge in Syrian refugee applications. — By the end of 2012, the UN had registered close to half a million Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries. — Syrian Canadians call on Canada to do more to support the refugees, including speeding up family reunification programs and opening the doors to more refugees, but the government says it will not act without an official request from the UN. A Syrian mother hugs her children after they arrived from Turkey at the Greek island of Lesbos on an overcrowded inflatable boat on Oct. 27, 2015. 2013 March: — The number of people registered as refugees from Syria or being assisted by the UN hits one million. The 200 spots available to government-assisted refugees are those already set aside each year for the Syrian program. He announces $150 million in humanitarian aid. Reemas Al Abdullah, 5, gets a hug from her father Abdullah Al Abdullah prior to a dinner hosted by Friends of Syria at the Toronto Port Authority on Dec. 27, 2015. 2014 January: — Then-prime minister Stephen Harper visits a refugee camp in Jordan, one of the main host countries for Syrians. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.