Up to 2,300 Syrian refugees expected in Calgary over the next six to eight weeks

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

There is an upside to taking in refugee sooner rather than later and that is that we will have first pick.

Don't be absurd, that's not how the refugee system works at all.

[skudr248]

What ever happened to that guy from Egypt who was going to buy an island for the Refugees?

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by T@T

That's just spending money, housing, heathcare and education would be on top of that for sure.

During and after the Vietnam War Canada took in about 30,000 refugees and it's been estimated it cost a billion dollars back then.

I think it was more like 50,000, and it was also driven by a Progressive Conservative Gov't, IIRC.


I would like to know if there is a "cost" undertaking. I poked around the internet but couldn't find a source for you claim. I am also wondering, if it did cost "a billion dollars" what is the estimated monetary contribution to this country by those people(s).

[Ironhorse]

Originally Posted by N-E-B

As long as the refugees are being properly screened then I say let as many of them in as we can.

And there is the heart of the matter. Most people don't have a problem in helping out; it is the fact that there is no way you can do proper security back checks on 25,000 Syrians before Christmas rolls around.

[Two Fivenagame]

Where Syrian Children Sleep



Lamar, 5, in Horgos, Serbia
Back home in Baghdad the dolls, the toy train, and the ball are left; Lamar often talks about these items when home is mentioned. The bomb changed everything. The family was on its way to buy food when it was dropped close to their house. It was not possible to live there anymore, says Lamar’s grandmother, Sara. After two attempts to cross the sea from Turkey in a small, rubber boat they succeeded in coming here to Hungary’s closed border. Now Lamar sleeps on a blanket in the forest, scared, frozen, and sad.

More..

Spoiler!

Fara, 2, in Azraq, Jordan
Fara, 2, loves soccer. Her dad tries to make balls for her by crumpling up anything he can find, but they don’t last long. Every night he says goodnight to Fara and her big sister Tisam, 9, in the hope that tomorrow will bring them a proper ball to play with. All other dreams seem to be beyond his reach, but he is not giving up on this one.

The rest of the album

[MrMastodonFarm]

I'd prefer to see those little girls fight for their country first before we allow them in.

[Johnny199r]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

I'd prefer to see those little girls fight for their country first before we allow them in.

If they were Canadian, American, British 5 year old girls, they would fight and not run!

[undercoverbrother]

So it is official, Brad Walls is a dick:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskat...plan-1.3321159

[NuclearFart]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

So it is official, Brad Walls is a dick:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskat...plan-1.3321159

Why is he a dick for caring about national security? He's not saying don't let refugees in, he's advocating for better due diligence during the screening process.

Certainly not an unreasonable stance in my opinion.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by NuclearFart

Why is he a dick for caring about national security? He's not saying don't let refugees in, he's advocating for better due diligence during the screening process.

Certainly not an unreasonable stance in my opinion.

Well, and correct me if I am wrong, the screening process isn't be degraded to deal with this matter.

He is also latching onto the Paris attack to stir up emotional responses.

It is political grandstanding and fear mongering.

[corporatejay]

Nope. I'm with Brad Wall on this one. If the federal government can convince me that it can do a thorough job of screening 25,000 people by December 31, I'm all for it, unfortunately there has been no plan put in place to do this. I'm not sure how they can do it safely.

[polak]

I think people are forgetting that the reason normal immigration takes so long is that they check more than just your potential threat level to the country. They check your health, your education, your work history, your family history and many other things. That takes a long time and involves a ton of work.

They're not concerned if these Syrian refugees have a proper degree or that they're skilled laborers. They're just screening their background for security reasons. That will go a lot quicker.

[NuclearFart]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Well, and correct me if I am wrong, the screening process isn't be degraded to deal with this matter.

He is also latching onto the Paris attack to stir up emotional responses.

It is political grandstanding and fear mongering.

I don't think it's fair to label this as grandstanding. He's representing a stance that I bet alot of his constituents share, as any elected official should. It's only human to be concerned after what just happened.

At a minimum this will encourage some transparency and critical appraisal of our current screening process, which could alleviate some of the xenophobia.

[Igottago]

I'm all for taking in Syrian refugees and I don't think his comments are totally unreasonable. Why place a random deadline on the process? Make sure security is fully scrutinized instead of making good on some promise in a political campaign. I think the Liberals should move forward with the plan but not make any promises about the deadline. This shouldn't be a political game where you score points on a campaign promise.

If you really want to see an unreasonable stance on the refugee crisis click the related article on what the US Republicans are saying about it. Truly disturbing.

[The Ditch]

how do you screen someone with no paperwork and no background information, do you just take them at face value and go ok well I am pretty sure you're telling the truth, I think.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Well, and correct me if I am wrong, the screening process isn't be degraded to deal with this matter.

It's not supposed to be. but IMO I can't see it not being degraded. I have to assume anybody involved in the processing is going to be overloaded. And that's when people take shortcuts and miss things. No different than anyone who has a busy/stressful/overloaded day at work.

I'm completely with Wall on this and have no idea how his statements make him a dick.

"Surely, we do not want to be date-driven or numbers-driven in an endeavour that may affect the safety of our citizens and the security of our country."

Wall said he wants to see a "redoubling" of security checks before the refugees are brought into Canada.

There's absolutely no need to put a hard-line date on this. He's not suggesting we don't bring them in. I'd be amazed if a majority of Canadians (not just his constituents) didn't agree with that statement.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by The Ditch

how do you screen someone with no paperwork and no background information, do you just take them at face value and go ok well I am pretty sure you're telling the truth, I think.

[polak]

Originally Posted by The Ditch

how do you screen someone with no paperwork and no background information, do you just take them at face value and go ok well I am pretty sure you're telling the truth, I think.

You underestimate your government's ability to invade the privacy of you and everyone else.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by kunkstyle

I'm completely with Wall on this and have no idea how his statements make him a dick.


There's absolutely no need to put a hard-line date on this. He's not suggesting we don't bring them in. I'd be amazed if a majority of Canadians (not just his constituents) didn't agree with that statement.

Indeed, he seems to be fairly reasonable. How did we come up with the 25,000 by the end of the year. Is that a pace that we normally bring in people and complete their full security checks (I honestly have no idea).

"I understand that the overwhelming majority of refugees are fleeing violence and bloodshed and pose no threat to anyone," wrote Wall. "However, if even a small number of individuals who wish to do harm to our country are able to enter Canada as a result of a rushed refugee resettlement process, the results could be devastating."

"Surely, we do not want to be date-driven or numbers-driven in an endeavour that may affect the safety of our citizens and the security of our country."

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by kunkstyle

It's not supposed to be. but IMO I can't see it not being degraded. I have to assume anybody involved in the processing is going to be overloaded. And that's when people take shortcuts and miss things. No different than anyone who has a busy/stressful/overloaded day at work.

I'm completely with Wall on this and have no idea how his statements make him a dick.


There's absolutely no need to put a hard-line date on this. He's not suggesting we don't bring them in. I'd be amazed if a majority of Canadians (not just his constituents) didn't agree with that statement.

I am not an expert, neither is Mr. Wall.

http://canadaam.ctvnews.ca/canadians...pert-1.2660279

Peter Showler, the former chair of Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board

But Showler said the screening of refugees is robust, and involves three different phases.
Firstly, the UNHCR has already triaged the refugees and assessed those that would make ideal candidates for re-settlement, he said, noting that less than five per cent of asylum seekers make that initial cut. For these candidates, there is additional security screening so that UN officials can learn their stories, he added.
Secondly, Canadian visa officers conduct more screening and interviews with this group to ensure there is consistency in their cases, he said.
Finally, there is an additional security review of the candidates by Canadian security agencies, including CBSA, CSIS and the RCMP.

He added that, when the Syrian civil war began four years ago, the first refugee flows out of Syria were people who were primarily secular, politically active and pro-democratic.
"They've now been in the neighbouring countries as refugees for four years," he said. "We know who those people are.
"So it's actually quite easy to identify 25,000 that fit into extremely low-risk security categories."

Mr. Showler appears to be an "expert".