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cities across Canada. The government has also established various programs for refugee resettlement including orientation sessions,
health care, employment counseling, and language training. Newly arrived refugees received government-assisted funding for
12 months, including health care and other services. Public support for the initiative has also increased as the program has progressed.
The results of these Canadian initiatives can be seen by the sharp increase in overall resettlement of refugees since 2014 [Figure 2].
Figure 3 illustrates the resettlement of Syrian refugees by country of resettlement between 2013 and 2016. Australia
resettled 1,747 Syrian refugees, Canada 17,498, Germany 6,085, Italy 382, and the United Kingdom 4,138 (UNHCR, 2017a).
In 2017, the Australian government pledged to resettle 12,000 refugees from Syria and Iran, in addition to the
existing humanitarian program intake of 13,750 refugees from these countries (Australian-Government, 2017). Australia
prioritized the settlement of displaced Syrians and Iraqis temporarily located in Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey. UNHCR
data suggest that 1,169 Syrian refugees were resettled in Australia in 2016, a considerable increase from 167 in 2015
[Figure 3]. Refugees from various countries usually reach Australia by boat from Indonesia through a dangerous journey
that has caused the deaths of hundreds of people (BBC, 2017). The ruling political parties have been implementing tough

Figure 1. Asylum-seeking individuals by host countries, 2000–2015.
Source: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Population Statistics, 2000–2015 (http://popstats.unhcr.org/en/overview)

Figure 2. Refugees sent for resettlement by country of resettlement, 2003–2016.
Source: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Resettlement Data, 2003–2016 (http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/resettlement-
data.html)
28 International Journal of Population Studies | 2018, Volume 4, Issue 1