CANADA: Gay Male Syrian Refugees To Be Welcomed, Other “Lone Males” Will Not Be Allowed

The Ottawa Citizen reports:

Gay men will be among the Syrian refugees the government is willing to bring to Canada under a plan that will otherwise welcome primarily women, children and families. Security concerns over extremists potentially slipping in to Canada mean the Liberal government will likely exclude unaccompanied males from its planned resettlement of thousands of refugees.

But the government is aware that gay men escaping violence in the region could be persecuted, and therefore plans to include them in the selection process aimed at rescuing some of the region’s most vulnerable refugees. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister John McCallum was to release details of the ambitious program Tuesday. Syrians have been steadily arriving in Canada for months and some of them will count against the Liberals’ election promise to resettle 25,000 people by Dec. 31 – a milestone the government is expected to say it likely won’t meet.

In a statement Monday, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair worried about a sweeping ban on lone male refugee claimants. “While security concerns remain of vital importance, will a young man, who lost both parents, be excluded from the refugee program?” Mulcair asked. “Will a widower who is fleeing Daesh (another name for the extremist Islamic State) after having seen his family killed be excluded? This is not the Canadian way.”

(Tipped by JMG reader Jasun)