麻豆影视

The federal government has announced that it will accelerate its promise to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees in Canada by speeding up the processing of refugee applications.

Immigration Minister Chris Alexander announced the revamped measures in Toronto on Saturday, saying the process will expedited by "cutting red tape" and "without compromising security in anyway."

"We will move quickly and above all responsibly -- security screening will remain the top priority," said Alexander. "We'll take the time necessary that in welcoming those most in need we protect the security of Canadians."

The Conservative government had said in January it would bring in 10,000 refugees over three years. But Alexander promised that these latest moves will see them resettled by September 2016.

So far, Canada has accepted less than 2,500 Syrians since the federal government opened its doors to refugees from that country in 2013.

Alexander also stressed the government's commitment to resettle 23,000 Iraqis will be fulfilled by the end of this year.

In order to achieve these goals, the government plans introduce several measures.

While visa officers will continue perform security checks and screen refugees for health issues, they will now be able to presume those fleeing conflict meet the definition of a refugee.

"They will no longer need a document confirming their status as UN convention refugees," said Alexander.

In statement released Saturday, the government also said it has sent additional visa officers to embassies in Syria and Iraq, and more are on their way to handle the extra case load.

The government said it also plans to make a decision on "all Syrian applications received as of today" by December of this year.

Several other measures have been promised to help bring refugees to Canada:

• It will "more than double" the number of staff in Canada processing sponsored applications;
   
• The documentation required for the sponsorship process will "temporarily" reduced;
   
• Improved communication between potential sponsors and refugees referred by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR); and
   
• A senior official will be moved into the position of "special co-ordinator for Syrian refugees"

Alexander said the government is prepared to sustain this "accelerated pace if applications continue to be submitted on the scale we're seeing now."

Since the election campaign kicked off last month, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has pledged to open the country's doors to another .

"That's a campaign commitment a new government will implement," said Alexander.

Alexander also encouraged Canadians to continue to sponsor Syrian and Iraqi refugees.

The government has said it will match every dollar donated to registered Canadians charities up to $100 million until the end of this year.

Alexander also used Saturday鈥檚 announcement to take veiled shots at the NDP and the Liberals, who have both pushed the government to do more to address the refugee crisis.

"Some would have us shortcut these procedures for security and other key aspects of resettlement," said Alexander. "We cannot ignore the security risks of Jihadi terrorists seeking to exploit the generosity of Western nations like Canada."

Earlier this month, Mulcair accused Harper of "piling up the excuses for doing nothing" to help refugees.

He added the potential threat of war criminals and ISIS fighters making their way into the country through the refugee system is "not an excuse" for failing to do more.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau expressed a similar dissatisfaction during the latest leaders' debate on Thursday, stressing Canada is "not doing enough."

"Yes, we need to be concerned about security, but we don鈥檛 take that as an excuse to close our doors,鈥� said Trudeau. 鈥淲e need to once again be a generous, open country.鈥�

The NDP has promised to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2015, and another additional 9,000 a year for the next four years.

The party's foreign affairs critic, Paul Dewar, told 麻豆影视 Channel on Saturday that he had mixed feelings about Alexander's announcement.

Dewar said he was glad the Conservative government was taking away barriers in the refugee process and had adopted what he called the NDP鈥檚 idea of employing a special co-ordinator for Syrian refugees.

However, he said the pledge to bring in 10,000 Syrian refugees by next September fell short of what could be achieved.

"Where we have concerns is that the government is talking about 10,000, not by the year-end which we had proposed (and) we think is very doable, but they're talking about next year," Dewar said.

Meanwhile, the Liberals have said Canada should take in 25,000 Syrian refugees before next year.

John McCallum, the party's immigration critic, told 麻豆影视 Channel that Thursday's promises were "too little, too late."

"A year ago, six months ago they should鈥檝e done something serious about refugees,鈥� McCallum said. 鈥淎nd I think they're only acting now because we're in the middle of an election campaign and pressure is being applied.鈥�

He was also critical of the announcement that the Conservatives would the repeal the 2012 rule that required asylum seekers to produce documents proving their official designation from the UN as refugees.

"That rule should never have been put in place,鈥� McCallum said. 鈥淚t blocked tens or hundreds of thousands of people from applying.鈥�

Also Saturday, a group of protesters from the organization "No One Is Illegal" also gathered in Toronto, calling on the government to open its borders for refugees.

Roughly 25 people marched in the area of Bloor Street and Avenue Road chanting "stop deporting people."