The mayors of Canada’s largest cities are moving ahead with plans to pressure the Conservative government to accept more Syrian refugees, but have yet to agree on the number that the country should take in.
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson told CTV’s Power Play on Monday that the mayors have not yet reached a consensus on the number of refugees they think the federal government to accept.
“We haven’t even gone down that route. Obviously we think the capacity is greater than 10,000 over four years, which the government is proposing. And my hope is that they increase that, given what they’re seeing in other countries with hundreds of thousands being taken in.”
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, chairman of the Big City Mayors' Caucus, has suggested the council support a motion calling on the federal government to admit at least 20,000 refugees a year by 2020.
Watson, who is part of the 21-member caucus, said he thinks Canada should take as many as the country can accommodate.
“We’ll take as many as we believe we can accommodate properly and safely, and other mayors are of the same opinion,” Watson said.
The caucus held a teleconference last week to co-ordinate their plans to help Syrian refugees amid criticism of the Conservatives’ response to the crisis. They also discussed the various town hall meetings their cities have held -- or plan to hold – in order to address the public interest in sponsoring Syrian refugees.
For instance, Watson said Ottawa is hosting a town hall on Oct. 1 to explain the basics of how to sponsor a Syrian family and the financial requirements that come along with that.
“(Ottawa residents) are thirsty for information on what can (they) do,” said Watson. “It’s been frustrating and confusing, so a number of mayors are holding these town hall, grassroots meetings to get everyone together who wants to help with organizations that have the capacity to help.”
Watson described the plight of an Ottawa church that has been trying to sponsor a Syrian family for eight months and has faced repeated bureaucratic roadblocks along the way, mostly caused by complicated paperwork and rule changes.
“They’ve lost touch with the family they hoped to sponsor.”
Watson said the desire to sponsor Syrian refugees is still growing. He pointed to a group of lawyers who recently contacted him in hopes of helping people -- pro-bono -- fill out the complicated paperwork for sponsoring refugees.
Watson said the big city mayors plan to continue working together to speed up and simplify the process of bringing more Syrian refugees to Canada.
“Canadians have a big heart and they do want to help those people in need,” said Watson. “People see mayors and municipal councillors as the grassroots conduits to helping. And that’s what we’re trying to do.”
