Canada reaches goal of 25K Syrian refugees by March

TORONTO (AP) – Canada’s immigration minister says the country has reached a significant milestone with the arrival of 25,000 Syrian refugees.

Immigration Minister John McCallum said Monday the work continues to integrate the Syrians into the community. McCallum was at Toronto’s Pearson airport as the last two government-arranged refugee flights were arriving as part of the Liberals’ $678-million Canadian (US$501 million) settlement plan.

The refugee resettlement program was launched in November, after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came to power and promised to bring in 25,000 government-sponsored refugees by the end of February.

In the United States, the Obama administration plans to take in 10,000 Syrian refugees. But several Republican governors have tried to stop the arrival of Syrian refugees in their states in the wake of the deadly attacks in Paris and California.