With the election wrapped up, local politicians can refocus on the resumption of relocating Afghan refugees into Canadian communities, something Guelph MP Lloyd Longfield said is high on his list of priorities.
“We are well-positioned to accept a number of people here and we will be working to make that happen,” said Longfield.
Working with local partners and families, Longfield said he has begun to make headway working with groups that sponsor refugees and making connections, something he was unable to continue doing once the election was called.
“I’ve started making those connections with them and also talked with some of the church groups and some of the private individuals who were involved with sponsoring Syrian refugees and other refugees,” said Longfield. “I said ‘at some point early in the mandate we will bring the people together that are interested in helping out with the Afghan refugees.”
That mandate can’t happen, however, until Longfield is sworn in.
He said should happen before the provisional date of Oct. 18, the date chosen before the election for new and returning members of parliament to hold the first session.
“Once I am sworn in and back in the office I will be picking this up as one of the early things that I have to work on,” said Longfield.
Longfield said he is still waiting to hear from the Prime Minister's Office as to when a notice will be sent to the Governor General to issue proclamations on the date and time the House will return to work.
As of Wednesday afternoon, this hasn't happened, and no date has been set for a new speech from the throne.
When the crisis first unfolded in Afghanistan, the Canadian government announced the resettlement program would bring 20,000 vulnerable Afghans threatened by the Taliban and forced to flee Afghanistan.
Federal Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau said on Monday in his address to the United Nations General Assembly that Canada would double that number, committing to welcoming 40,000 refugees to Canada.
“It gets expedited once we’ve identified the 40,000 we are up to wanting to bring over,” said Longfield. “There are many streams of immigration to come to Canada, and the refugee stream once we’ve got it identified and the risk to human life things do get expedited.”
Longfield said the government is currently working to bring over refugees and safely as they can, and locally the best course of action is to prepare the community.
“We support from our side by preparing our community, and there are communities all across Canada that are interested in settling refugees all the time, but in particular when we have a crisis,” said Longfield. “Our community has shown in the past that we are very good at resettling and reemploying and getting people to help start businesses.”
