Canada will reportedly continue to review asylum claims submitted by Syrian refugees, despite the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s dictator regime over the weekend. A long list of European countries, including Germany, France, Italy, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Czechia, Switzerland, Croatia and Greece have all, at least temporarily, halted Syrian refugee claims. Immigration Minister Marc Miller on Tuesday, however, said Canada plans to continue reviewing asylum applications, reported CTV. Miller reasoned Canada isn’t “seeing the same pressure” on its asylum system as some of the European countries that announced the review process would be paused. Assad after 14 years in power fled Syria on Sunday and rebel opposition forces now occupy the capital of Damascus. Assad is now reportedly in Russia. The Assad family has ruled Syria for 50 years.Nearly the whole time Bashar al-Assad reined, the country was engaged in a gnarly civil war. Since 2015, Canada has provided asylum for more than 100,000 Syrian refugees. According to a Statistics Canada report from January 2024, a staggering 50% of them are fully supported by taxpayers.
