Liberal Government and John Sewell

government: Caps on applications this year, a decrease in staff handling those and the return of a controversial travel-loan program are all prompting questions about what is going on with a program that once was priority one for the Liberal government. "I think everybody assumed that the government was really interested in doing something serious about Syrian refugees and the 25,000 was just the start of it," said former Toronto mayor John Sewell, who is part of a network of private sponsors which plans to hold an emergency meeting next week on the situation. "It as though the government has just said, oh well, there the promise, it all over." The changes essentially reverse much of what the previous Conservative government and then the Liberals did to respond to a surge in demand last fall for Canada to bring in more Syrians, according to The Chronicle Herald. Staffing increases in the central processing office in Winnipeg and at missions overseas was the first step taken by the Tories and increased further when the Liberals took office, but they have now been cut back. The original goal of bringing in 25,000 refugees has been met, but the next step is unclear. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was pressed on the issue Thursday but wouldn't directly address the cuts. "We continue to be engaged with the issue of Syrian refugees, making it a priority to continue to show that Canada is a strong and welcoming country," he said. Some are being told it will be more than eight months before the family they are sponsoring arrives, while others hear that if they've not yet been matched with a family it unlikely they'll see anyone before 2017. "There is so much conflicting information floating around," said Allison Murray, who has been working with a group of Toronto residents since the fall to put together the funds to sponsor a family. "Our group is trying to be patient." It never been clear exactly how many privately sponsored Syrians would be accepted. In the Toronto area alone, upwards of 600 groups have spent months raising money, finding apartments and gathering supplies. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.