Ottawa to extend eligibility for Yazidi refugees

Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino says his department will adopt a new policy to help more Yazidis and other survivors of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant reunite with their families in Canada.

Mendicino says the new policy will allow more Yazidi refugees to join extended family members, including siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles.

He says the Yazidis and other groups who survived abuse, torture and even genocide at the hands of ISIL are among the most vulnerable refugees in the world.

Guided by compassion, we are renewing our efforts to reunite Yazidi families. Our new policy will ensure that more Yazidis and other survivors can be reunited with loved ones so that they can start new lives in Canada. https://t.co/BqJE4IpnpB

— Marco Mendicino (@marcomendicino) March 30, 2021

The Immigration Department says the new policy will help Yazidis and other communities in Northern Iraq to start new lives in Canada.

The department says these refugees were victims of threats or acts including sexual slavery, general enslavement, torture, inhuman or degrading treatment, family separation and forced displacement.

Canada has welcomed about 1,400 survivors of ISIL from Northern Iraq since 2017.