Finding refuge in Ottawa
From Damascus to Beirut, Edmonton to Ottawa, Rasha has spent the past three years running away from violence. While she has made a new life for herself in Canada, she still mourns all she had to leave behind in Syria.
Ottawa groups rally to welcome Syrian refugees
While the government announced details today of its ambitious plan to resettle Syrian refugees to Canada, organizations and people in Ottawa continued to work frantically to make sure they are up to the task. “There’s a lot of energy and excitement,” said Carl Nicholson, executive director of the Catholic Centre for Immigrants. Nicholson said he is optimistic the city is ready, having heard “tons of good ideas” from people across the...
Refugee resettlement deadline pushed back two months
The federal government now aims to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of February 2016, missing its initial year-end deadline by two months. According to Health Minister Jane Philpott, chair of a special committee coordinating the government’s Syrian resettlement effort, a minimum of 10,000 Syrian refugees will arrive in Canada by Dec. 31; the remaining 15,000 will follow by the end of February 2016. Fifteen-thousand refugees...