Telegenic Trudeau flirts with Muslim 'refugees' at airport.
WASHINGTON/OTTAWA: Canada is proceeding with plans to take in 25,000 Syrian refugees, but the country's background-vetting programme is under scrutiny by a U.S. congressional panel, with a hearing set for Wednesday, amid lawmaker concerns about U.S. security.
The Senate Homeland Security Committee has questions about the Ottawa government's intake of refugees by the end of February and the possibility that violent militants could mix in and cross the long, largely porous U.S.-Canada border.
At the public hearing, senators will question U.S. and Canadian experts and a U.S. Border Patrol officer on Canada's "fast track" resettlement programme. Canada's government turned down an invitation to send a spokesperson to the session.
"We have been in frequent touch with members of the U.S. administration who are satisfied with what we are doing ... if the U.S. Senate wants to engage in these activities, that is their right, of course," John McCallum, Canada's immigration minister, told reporters on Tuesday.
Initial inquiries show Canada's background checks on refugees are less rigorous than the 18- to 24-month vettings done by U.S. authorities before letting any Syrian refugee set foot on American soil, congressional aides said. ...
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