After Assad’s ouster in Syria, what next for refugee claims in Canada?

After the fall of Bashar al-Assad, some European countries are suspending asylum claims for Syrian refugees. But what does the future hold for Canada’s own Syrian refugee program?

After more than a decade of civil war that displaced millions, the ouster of Bashar al-Assad as Syria’s president by a coalition of rebel groups on Sunday is raising questions about what should happen now to Syrian asylum claims.

Several European countries are suspending or pausing the processing the asylum claims from Syria. But what does the future hold for Canada’s own Syrian refugee program?

Speaking to reporters in Ottawa, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said Canada would continue to evaluate asylum claims, since the country doesn’t face the same pressure or numbers from refugees as countries like Germany or Austria.

“We don’t face that flow in Canada. I don’t know what rank they occupy in terms of source countries for asylum seekers, but it’s pretty low,” Miller said.

Canada has just shy of 1,600 pending refugee claims from Syria as of Sept. 30.

Germany has more than 47,000 pending refugee claims from the country, according to the Associated Press.

Since 2015, more than 100,000 Syrian refugees have been resettled in Canada.

The plight of the Syrian people fleeing Assad’s brutal crackdown became part of the 2015 federal election campaign discourse in Canada after the image of three-year-old Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi‘s drowned body face down on a Turkish beach horrified Canadians.