The Syrian civil war alone has forced some 5 million people to seek safety in neighbouring countries, and has displaced more than 6 million more. The exact implications of his recent executive order, which indefinitely suspends the resettlement of Syrian refugees and bans people from seven predominantly Muslim nations from entering the U.S. for 90 days, are still in flux. There are several concrete steps Ottawa should take to reduce the harm of Trump’s cruel order. The easiest would be for the government to offer temporary refuge to those affected by the executive order. Last December, Ottawa announced that, due to backlogs, it would take in no more than 1,000 privately sponsored Syrian and Iraqi refugees in 2017.

Source: thestar February 01, 2017 14:43 UTC