And fuck Harper, and fuck Chris Alexander, and fuck all asshat nationalists and bureaucrats who are, in any way, shape, or form, implicated in any of this. UGH!
The father of a Syrian toddler whose body washed up on a Turkish beach says his boys "slipped away" from his hands after their rowboat capsized trying to reach the Greek island of Kos from Turkey with several other refugees.
"I was holding my wife's hand, my children slipped away from my hands," he said in a statement to police obtained by the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet. "We tried to hold on to the boat. Everyone was screaming in pitch darkness. I couldn't make my voice heard to my wife and kids."
The death of Kurdi's three-year-old son, Alan, who drowned along with his brother, Gulip, 5, and mother, Reham, has drawn worldwide attention to the Syrian refugee crisis and placed the Canadian government under fire after it emerged the family had been trying to come to Canada with the help of their aunt, Tima Kurdi.
The boys' father, Abdullah Kurdi, also said today Canadian officials offered him citizenship after seeing what happened, but he has declined.
But Citizenship and Immigration Canada released a statement Thursday afternoon saying "Canada did not offer citizenship to Mr Abdullah Kurdi."
Kurdi spoke publicly for the first time Thursday after he identified the bodies of his wife and sons in a Turkish morgue and prepared to take them home to Syria.
Sister in B.C. wanted to sponsor Syrian relatives
Kurdi's sister, Fatima, immigrated to Canada several years ago and had been trying since at least March to help Aylan and his family as well as another brother come to Canada, but Citizenship and Immigration clarified Thursday that no formal application for refugee status was made.
"There was no record of an application received for Mr Abdullah Kurdi and his family," a statement from the department said.
The department confirmed that an application was made on behalf of Mohammed Kurdi, the other brother of Fatima Kurdi.
"An application for Mr. Mohammed Kurdi and his family was received by the department but was returned as it was incomplete as it did not meet regulatory requirements for proof of refugee status recognition," the statement said.
Fatima Kurdi said Wednesday that she saw the heartbreaking photo of the little boy lying face down on a beach near the Turkish resort town of Bodrum and believed it was her nephew ? which her brother later confirmed.
Kurdi approached NDP MP Fin Donnelly in March for help with sponsoring her relatives as refugees, said the MP, who represents New Westminster-Coquitlam but is running in the Port Moody Coquitlam riding in the Oct. 19 federal election.
"She was very concerned, obviously, with what was going on in Syria and wanted to get her family out," Donnelly told CBC on Wednesday.
Minister 'promised' to look into it: MP
Donnelly said after considering their options, they decided to write to the Canadian Immigration Minister Chris Alexander directly ? a letter that Donnelly said he delivered.
"[Alexander] promised that he would look into it, to me. I thought ? he would actually do it," said Donnelly.
"We did get some requests for detailed information about the family from his staff to mine ? then nothing."
Donnelly said Canada must do more to help and shelter Syrian refugees.
"Obviously, this is devastating for the family," he said.
"We need to address the situation. We need to look at how we can bring people into our country."
More than four million refugees have fled Syria since the civil war began in 2011. There are also more than seven million internally displaced people within Syria.
Alexander, who is running for the Conservative Party in the Ontario riding of Ajax, on Thursday announced he is interrupting his re-election campaign in order to address the refugee crisis.
In an interview Wednesday on CBC's Power & Politics, he defended Canada's refugee response while also castigating the media for not reporting more on the refugee crisis.
In a statement announcing he is returning to Ottawa Thursday, Alexander said Canada has already resettled nearly 22,000 Iraqis and 2,300 Syrians and has set a target of accepting 23,000 Iraqi and 11,300 Syrian refugees.
Peace!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/syria-migrants-canada-drowned-migrants-1.3213772
The father of a Syrian toddler whose body washed up on a Turkish beach says his boys "slipped away" from his hands after their rowboat capsized trying to reach the Greek island of Kos from Turkey with several other refugees.
"I was holding my wife's hand, my children slipped away from my hands," he said in a statement to police obtained by the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet. "We tried to hold on to the boat. Everyone was screaming in pitch darkness. I couldn't make my voice heard to my wife and kids."
The death of Kurdi's three-year-old son, Alan, who drowned along with his brother, Gulip, 5, and mother, Reham, has drawn worldwide attention to the Syrian refugee crisis and placed the Canadian government under fire after it emerged the family had been trying to come to Canada with the help of their aunt, Tima Kurdi.
The boys' father, Abdullah Kurdi, also said today Canadian officials offered him citizenship after seeing what happened, but he has declined.
But Citizenship and Immigration Canada released a statement Thursday afternoon saying "Canada did not offer citizenship to Mr Abdullah Kurdi."
Kurdi spoke publicly for the first time Thursday after he identified the bodies of his wife and sons in a Turkish morgue and prepared to take them home to Syria.
Sister in B.C. wanted to sponsor Syrian relatives
Kurdi's sister, Fatima, immigrated to Canada several years ago and had been trying since at least March to help Aylan and his family as well as another brother come to Canada, but Citizenship and Immigration clarified Thursday that no formal application for refugee status was made.
"There was no record of an application received for Mr Abdullah Kurdi and his family," a statement from the department said.
The department confirmed that an application was made on behalf of Mohammed Kurdi, the other brother of Fatima Kurdi.
"An application for Mr. Mohammed Kurdi and his family was received by the department but was returned as it was incomplete as it did not meet regulatory requirements for proof of refugee status recognition," the statement said.
Fatima Kurdi said Wednesday that she saw the heartbreaking photo of the little boy lying face down on a beach near the Turkish resort town of Bodrum and believed it was her nephew ? which her brother later confirmed.
Kurdi approached NDP MP Fin Donnelly in March for help with sponsoring her relatives as refugees, said the MP, who represents New Westminster-Coquitlam but is running in the Port Moody Coquitlam riding in the Oct. 19 federal election.
"She was very concerned, obviously, with what was going on in Syria and wanted to get her family out," Donnelly told CBC on Wednesday.
Minister 'promised' to look into it: MP
Donnelly said after considering their options, they decided to write to the Canadian Immigration Minister Chris Alexander directly ? a letter that Donnelly said he delivered.
"[Alexander] promised that he would look into it, to me. I thought ? he would actually do it," said Donnelly.
"We did get some requests for detailed information about the family from his staff to mine ? then nothing."
Donnelly said Canada must do more to help and shelter Syrian refugees.
"Obviously, this is devastating for the family," he said.
"We need to address the situation. We need to look at how we can bring people into our country."
More than four million refugees have fled Syria since the civil war began in 2011. There are also more than seven million internally displaced people within Syria.
Alexander, who is running for the Conservative Party in the Ontario riding of Ajax, on Thursday announced he is interrupting his re-election campaign in order to address the refugee crisis.
In an interview Wednesday on CBC's Power & Politics, he defended Canada's refugee response while also castigating the media for not reporting more on the refugee crisis.
In a statement announcing he is returning to Ottawa Thursday, Alexander said Canada has already resettled nearly 22,000 Iraqis and 2,300 Syrians and has set a target of accepting 23,000 Iraqi and 11,300 Syrian refugees.
Peace!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/syria-migrants-canada-drowned-migrants-1.3213772
