Canada to take in additional 800 Yazidis in 2017

By Barry Ellsworth

TRENTON, Ontario

The Canadian government announced Tuesday it will bring in 800 more Yazidis and other survivors of Islamic extremists by year’s end.

That is in addition to the 400 Yazidi refugees and other survivors already resettled in Canada in the last four months, reported the Canadian Press wire service.

The program is expected to cost CAN$28 million and there will will be an emphasis on women and girls.

In addition, the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also plans to aid in private sponsorship of Yazidi refugees.

Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen made the announcement four months after the government supported a Conservative Party motion to provide asylum for Yazidi females.

The government understands many Yazidi women and girls were being used by Daesh as sex slaves, he said.

“Many have experienced unimaginable trauma and vulnerability, both physical and emotional, and many will have unique physical, psychological and social needs, such as trauma counseling,” Hussen told reporters at a press conference in Ottawa.

Male family members will be included among the new refugees, he said.

The government understands Daesh is also targeting boys “and, as such, helping to resettle all child survivors is vital to this work,” Hussen added.

It is important to keep families together to help them adjust to their new home and recover from trauma, he said.

Canada’s immigration minister noted the country has a history of taking in refugees based on “vulnerability, not religion or ethnicity”.

Hussen said Canada has studied Germany, which resettled more than 1,000 survivors from northern Iraq in the past year, and learned how to conduct security checks on refugees.

The Germans have also schooled = Canadians in setting up settlement services for refugees once they enter Canada.

The government said it has the approval of Kurdish region authorities in Iraq and the consent of the Iraqi government to operate in the area.

While taking mostly Iraq refugees, some will be accepted from Lebanon and Turkey, the government said.