Canada’s Syrian refugee plan limited to women, children, families: report

Canada will reportedly only be allowing in refugees who are women, children, or a part of families.

Sources told CBC News that due to security concerns unaccompanied men will be excluded from the program that seeks to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees.

The CBC is also reporting over the past six weeks, Canadian authorities have already been screening about 100 people a day in Lebanon.

A government document obtained by The Canadian Press pegs the cost of the resettlement plan at $1.2 billion over the next six years, suggesting $876.7 million would be needed in 2015-2016 alone.

The federal government has yet to formally reveal the specifics of the plan to meet the Dec. 31 target of resettling 25,000 people, a commitment made during the election campaign. It has said it will be announcing the Syrian refugee plan on Tuesday.

The Liberal platform only earmarked $100 million for refugee resettlement this year, in addition to $100 million for the United Nations refugee agency, which is co-ordinating global resettlement efforts.

The six departments slated to receive funds are Immigration, Defence, Public Health, Shared Services Canada, Global Affairs Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency.

Security screening for refugees is one of the sticking points of the plan and gained new urgency following attacks in Paris on Nov. 13 that were linked to extremists who may have entered Europe as refugees.

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