Canadian Press: Stephanie Levitz and Information Act

canadian press: Twice in 2015 — first in March, then again in July as the refugee crisis escalated — federal bureaucrats proposed exempting Syrians and Iraqis from a rule requiring them to have official UN refugee status in order to be sponsored by small groups of people to come to Canada, according to Toronto Star. On both occasions, the recommendation as described in documents obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act was rejected by then-immigration minister Chris Alexander. By Stephanie Levitz The Canadian Press Sun., Aug. 28, 2016 OTTAWA—In spite of relentless pressure to help Syrians flee the perils of civil war, Canada former Conservative government twice rejected a proposal last year to make it easier for Canadians to sponsor them, newly disclosed documents show. The Conservatives eventually agreed to the change, but not until September, when the original policy became linked to the story of Alan Kurdi — the 3-year-old Syrian boy whose tragic drowning galvanized global sympathy for the Syrian refugee crisis.A memo, entitled Public policy to facilitate the sponsorship of Syrian and Iraqi refugees by groups of five and community sponsors, was first sent to Alexander on March 17, 2015. As a result, such so-called groups of five could only sponsor people who carried an official refugee designation the United Nations or the host country. Article Continued Below The issue was a 2012 rule change put in place by the Conservatives that made it nearly impossible for informal groups without sponsorship agreements with the government to bring refugees to Canada. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.