Single male refugees OK

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Deborah Tunis, special co-ordinator for Syrian refugee settlement for the Canadian government.

The federal government has not slammed the refugee door shut on single men who might want to come to Canada as part of its large Syrian resettlement program, the bureaucrat in charge of the effort said Thursday.

Instead, the government has made its priority helping the most vulnerable Syrians and its primary aim is to help complete families make the move, Deborah Tunis said.

Tunis disputed reports that single men would be excluded, citing a technical briefing from David Manicom, the assistant deputy minister with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

Manicom, she said, directed that families, women, children and sexual minorities at risk take precedence.

"Those are where priorities are but we haven't said that we're not taking any single men, it's just that those other cases are going to the top of the list," Tunis told The Canadian Press in an interview.

"Single males will be coming as part of this population."

Tunis, a longtime employee with the federal government, came out of retirement to become the government's special co-ordinator on Syrian refugees.

It was an opportunity to participate in an important national project, make a contribution, and make a difference in people's lives, Tunis said.

"Our assistant deputy ministers this week said this is the most exciting, exhilarating thing they've worked on," she said.

"For many people in the department, they've been wanting to work on this kind of a project for a long, long time — it's why people come to work."

Indeed, that kind of excitement was evident as Tunis and hundreds of other people devoted to helping refugees gathered for the start of a national three-day conference.

In the following days and weeks, the first wave of 10,000 Syrian refugees will begin arriving in Canada — the government has said by the end of the year — dominating discussions at the fall consultation of the Canadian Council for Refugees.

The logistics, however, of welcoming them is a daunting challenge — even for organizations that have spent years helping refugees.

"This is truly an incredible mobilization," said Jennifer Bond, an Ottawa professor providing expert advice to the new refugee minister.

At the same time, she stressed, Ottawa needs significant support and co-ordination from other levels of government and local groups.

Initially, housing will be a priority — for example, some hotels and schools may offer immediate shelter — but the list of tasks, from providing health care and language lessons to schooling and social supports, is long.