The government is also looking to increase the rate at with Iraqi refugees are resettled, with Europe being inundated with a flood of refugees from across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). In order to accomplish this, the government is changing the process for establishing persons as refugees.
Previously, the Canadian government had pledged to resettle 10,000 refugees over the course of the next three years, but now officials are looking to reach that target by September 2016. The United Nations now estimates there are more displaced persons in the world than at any point since World War II. In total, approximately 60 million people, including refugees and internally displaced people, are believed to have fled their homes.
At least some of these people will be finding a new home in Canada. Most importantly, Syrian and Iraqis will now longer have to prove that they are refugees by the definition and recognition of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNRA), but will instead be presumed to be genuinely displaced persons.
The UNRA has been overwhelmed with applications for refugee status, and has admitted it lacks the resources to properly handle the situation. The backlog for those seeking refugee status is at least several months long, and the UN estimates it will need an additional $3 billion to meet the current demand.
In an effort to process the refugees quickly the Canadian government will send additional officers abroad to process claims. The government is looking to process all claims within six months of the initial application. At home, the government is looking to double the size of its Winnipeg processing center, which processes all refugees entering the country.
Refugees and migrants disembark from a Croatian train in northern Croatian village of Botovo late on September 20, 2015
Elvis Barukcic, AFP
Migrants holding a baby rest after arriving on the shore of Sykamias beach, west of the port of Mytilene on the Greek Island of Lesbos, on September 20, 2015, after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey
Iakovos Hatzistavrou, AFP
Volunteers help a sick child as migrants arrive in Graz on September 20, 2015
Jure Makovec, AFP
Migrants and refugees sleep on a bus heading towards the Serbia-Croatia border via Belgrade to the western-Serbia town of Sid, on September 20, 2015
Armend Nimani, AFP
Migrants board a train to Graz at a railway station in Spielfeld on September 20, 2015
Jure Makovec, AFP
Migrants rush to board a train heading to the Hungarian border near the town of Botovo, at the train station in the eastern Croatia town of Tovarnik, on September 20, 2015
STR, AFP
Slovenian riot police stand guard as migrants and refugees wait to leave the Croatian-Slovenian border in Obrezje on September 20, 2015
STR, AFP
Migrants walk past barbed wire as they cross the Macedonia-Greece border near Gevgelija on September 20, 2015
Nikolay Doychinov, AFP
Hungarian police escort migrants in the early hours of September 20, 2015 after they cross the border near Zakany to continue their trip to Germany
Attila Kisbenedek, AFP
Migrants queue to board a train heading to Serbia near Gevgelija at the border between Greece and Macedonia on September 20, 2015
Nikolay Doychinov, AFP
Syrian migrants clash with Turkish riot police at Edirne on September 19, 2015
Bulent Kilic, AFP
Thousands of migrants wait for their departure to Germany at the Austrian side of the Hungarian-Austrian border in Heiligenkreuz on September 19, 2015
Attila Kisbenedek, AFP
Slovenia police stand guard, as migrants and refugees wait to depart the bridge between the Croatian-Slovenian border in Rigonce on September 19, 2015
-, AFP
A father carries his child as Syrian refugees and migrants face Turkish riot police during a short clash at the Turkish-Greek border at Edirne on September 19, 2015
Bulent Kilic, AFP
Migrants wait to be taken by Slovenian police from the Rigonce-Harmica border crossing to the registration center in nearby Brezice, Slovenia, on September 19, 2015
Jure Makovec, AFP
Syrian migrants and refugees march towards Greece along a highway on September 18, 2015, on their way to the border between Turkey and Greece
Bulent Kilic, AFP
Migrants and refugees queue to cross the Greek-Macedonian border near Gevgelija on September 18, 2015
Nikolay Doychinov, AFP
Migrants and refugees move forward to board buses in a marshalling yard near Zagreb, on September 18, 2015
, AFP
Migrants board through a window of a train heading to Zagreb at a railway station, near the official border crossing between Croatia and Serbia on September 18 2015
, AFP
Migrants walk on railway tracks towards the train station of Tovarnik close to the Croatian-Serbian border, on September 17, 2015
, AFP
Migrants wait for a train at a station near the official border between Serbia and Croatia on September 17, 2015
, AFP
Migrants and refugees protest the blocked access to the road and ticket office for Turkey-Greece border towns on September 15, 2015
Yasin Akgul, AFP/File
Syrian refugees and migrants gather near the highway on September 15, 2015, on their way to the border between Turkey and Bulgaria in the northwestern Turkish city of Edirne
Bulent Kilic, AFP/File
A girl is affected by tear gas during clashes between migrants and Hungarian riot police at the Hungarian border with Serbia near the town of Horgos on September 16, 2015
Armend Nimani, AFP
Migrants run away from tear gas thrown by Hungarian riot police at the border with Serbia near the town of Horgos on September 16, 2015
Armend Nimani, AFP
Hungarian riot police clash with migrants attempting to break out from the no-man's land between the two countries at the Hungarian-Serbian border of Roszke station on September 16, 2015
Sandor Gemesi, AFP
A refugee holds a young boy at the main train station in Munich, southern Germany, after migrants arrived from Hungary on August 31, 2015
Christof Stache, AFP/File
Migrants and refugees wait at Istanbul's Esenler Bus Terminal for buses to the Turkish-Greek border after authorities withheld tickets to Turkish border towns on September 16, 2015
Yasin Akgul, AFP
A migrant prays along the side of a freeway north of Rodby as a large group of migrants, mainly from Syria, walk on the highway moving to the north on September 7, 2015 in Denmark
Jens Nørgaard Larsen, Scanpix Denmark/AFP/File
Salim Assi (C) and a large group of immigrants living in Denmark welcome migrants at Rodby on September 8, 2015
Mathais Lovgreen Bojesen, Scanpix Denmark/AFP
Migrants arrive at the railway station in Munich, southern Germany, on September 12, 2015
Philipp Guelland, AFP
Policemen lead migrants to a temporary shelter upon their arrival in Munich, Germany, from Budapest on September 12, 2015
Sven Hoppe, DPA/AFP
Migrants wait for the bus at the main train station in Munich, southern Germany, on September 13, 2015
Christof Stache, AFP
Migrants walk next to camp beds in a makeshift refugee shelter in a gym in Stern-Buchholz, northern Germany, on September 7, 2015
Jens Buttner, DPA/AFP/File
