Canadians Wish to Accept More Refugees

A Mainstreet/Postmedia survey revealed that almost half the Canadian population wishes that more refugees would arrive in their country. Furthermore, they also believe that the Canadian federal government is not helping enough with the people affected by the conflict in Syria.

Specifically, the survey found that 48% of Canadians wish that their country would support an increase in refugee resettlement, while the same percentage disapproves of the government’s current response. “Canadians clearly want to see more action taken on refugee resettlement,” Quito Maggi, president of Mainstreet, noted in the official release. “They believe it is the best way Canada can help and almost half of Canadians support resettling over 30,000 refugees. These are significant numbers.”

Meanwhile, another 13% of respondents in Canada believe that the country should accept between 20,000 and 30,000 refugees and 11% between 10,000 and 20,000 refugees. Finally, only 13% of respondents claimed that the country should only accept to host less than 10,000 Syrian refugees.

The inflow of Syrian refugees in Greece has dramatically increased over the last few months. Thousands of people have arrived on the Greek Aegean islands from the Turkish coast, traveling under the worst and most risky conditions in order to escape the conflict in their country and seek a better future in northern Europe, or other countries across the world.

Most refugees come from middle or high class families since the smugglers who help them entering the Greek border illegally are requesting high amounts of money, ranging from 2,500 to 5,000 euros. Numerous people have lost their lives on the long journey, while thousands of migrants and refugees traveling with or without documents are currently “trapped” in Greece, or on the Greek islands with no way to travel to northern European countries.