Premier wants to double Manitoba’s refugee intake

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This article was published 03/09/2015 (3157 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Selinger government would like to see the number of refugees coming to Manitoba double to 3,000 to address the Syrian crisis.

Premier Greg Selinger said that figure would include public as well as privately sponsored refugees.

This morning, he also announced an additional $40,000 in funding to community groups to assist with refugee settlement costs.

In a scrum with reporters outside his office, he also urged the federal government to do more to assist Syrian refugees.

“We’d like to see the federal government participate more on the public sponsorship of refugees. We think that would be extremely helpful,” he said.

Selinger also said that Manitoba’s health care, education and social services will be there to support additional families arriving as refugees.

“Syria’s civil war is widely regarded as one of the worst humanitarian disasters of modern times,” the premier said in a statement. “It would be irresponsible to turn our backs on the suffering of our fellow human beings. As a collective global community, we must do all that we can to try and facilitate a lasting peace.”