Thomas Vincent

: The government looked good in those photo ops after they made the 25,000 target in February, according to Toronto Star. Now, they no longer care about the other sponsors and have left us in the cold, said Thomas Vincent, whose group in Collingwood has been waiting for the arrival of three Syrian families since December and now worries for further delays. The latest revelation that Ottawa has quietly stopped making it a priority to process Syrian sponsorship applications at its central processing centre in Winnipeg is another kick to the stomach of the private sponsors who responded to the government call for support and now feel abandoned. I get the same question every day: ‘Where are the Syrian refugee families that we are sponsoring ’ We have to say to them, ‘We don’t know.’ It looks silly on us. And worse, Syrian applications submitted by the agreement holders since January are now going to be counted toward the annual caps imposed on them by the immigration department. Earlier in March, the Canadian Refugee Sponsorship Agreement Holders Association — whose members connect interested community and faith groups with refugees awaiting resettlement abroad — was told by the immigration department that Syrian applications are no longer a priority. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.