The Tri-City News interviewed a local refugee advocate for questions and then asked Port Moody-Coquitlam candidates for answers to inform voters leading up to the Oct. 19 federal election.
Canada must reach out to and shelter the more than four million Syrian refugees who have fled conflict in their country, says Iris Challoner, co-founder of Humanity4Syrians.
The local woman, whose group has already brought one Syrian family to Port Moody and is working with a Coquitlam church to bring in another, wants to know what local politicians and their parties will do.
"I think the really important issue is that people need to realize over 50% of Syrian refugees are children," she says.
• Jessie Adcock, Liberal
"We need to do the right thing, we need to go beyond politics and help them come to Canada," Adcock says of Syrian refugees, adding that one of Canada's core values is to be "inclusive."
Her party supports family reunification so Syrian refugees can join relatives here and she supports Liberal promises to take 25,000 refugees and work with private sponsors to take even more. The Liberals would also put $100 million towards refugee processing, sponsorship and settlement, and give another $100 million to the UN HIgh Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to support relief activities in Syria.
Adcock, who says she travelled to Syria prior to 9/11, said it was a beautiful, educated and prosperous country, and now "it's rubble."
• Fin Donnelly, NDP
Donnelly, who was recently under the media spotlight for his role in trying to help a Coquitlam women bring her Syrian family to Canada, says more needs to be done for refugees — and quickly.
His party would bring in 10,000 refugees to Canada by the end of the year, and another 36,000 over the next four years. It would also remove the cap on sponsored refugees, and reduce some of the bureaucracy. Like the Liberals, the NDP would also increase assistance to humanitarian agencies, such as the UNHCR.
"The world has not seen a humanitarian crisis like this since the Second World War," he says. "The world has to react and is reacting and Canada has to play its part."
• Tim Laidler, Conservative
Laidler says his government is responding appropriately to the Syrian refugee crisis by speeding up processing and designating refugees differently to make it easier for sponsoring agencies to bring them to Canada.
"We need to cut the red tape," Laidler says, but he notes government policies should still ensure that "those who need it most should come first," including religious and ethnic minorities.
As well, he says security screening will still be carried out as the government plans to bring 10,000 Syrian refugees to Canada.
• Marcus Madsen, Green
Madsen, formerly a resident of Germany, is proud of how his native country has opened its arms to refugees, and believes Canada should do the same.
"I think Canada should do everything to bring in newcomers," he says, stating Canada "can do better" on the refugee file.
According to the Green Party, Canada should immediately commit the resources of its armed forces to extract and transport 25,000 Syrian refugees this year and 40,000 over the next five years.
