ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Canada will welcome more Yazidi refugees and other survivors of Islamic State (ISIS) atrocities in an expansion of its resettlement programme, the foreign ministry announced on Tuesday.
The new scheme will allow extended family members, including siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles of Yazidi refugees and ISIS survivors currently in Canada to come to the country, the ministry said in a statement, in addition to others previously unable to apply for resettlement.
“Having survived abuse, torture and even genocide at the hands of Daesh (ISIS), the Yazidis and other groups are among the most vulnerable refugees in the world,” said Marco Mendicino, Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.
“Guided by compassion, we are now redoubling our efforts to reunite their families. Our new policy will ensure that more Yazidis and other survivors can be reunited with loved ones so that they can start new lives in Canada.”
Canada is one of a few countries that has resettled Yazidi survivors, mostly women, since ISIS launched a genocide against the minority in the summer of 2014, killing and enslaving thousands in their heartland of Shingal in Iraq’s Nineveh province . However, most do not permit spouses or extended family to travel with them. The policy has drawn criticism from both survivors and politicians.
A 2018 report by the citizenship and immigration standing committee detailed the challenges faced by Yazidi refugees arriving in Canada, calling on the government to expand its resettlement scheme for survivors and expedite the applications of immediate family members to join them.
According to the ministry, Canada has welcomed more than 1,400 Yazidi survivors, almost 100 of whom were privately sponsored.
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment