NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair makes a stop at a cafe as he continues his campaigning in Canada's Federal Election in Toronto on Thursday, September 3, 2015. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young)

Family of drowned Syrian boy were trying to come to Canada

Ajax Conservative candidate Chris Alexander has suspended his re-election campaign in the wake of allegations Canada rejected the refugee application for two Syrian children and their mother who drowned Wednesday off the Turkish Coast.

The heartbreaking image of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi's body on a beach made headlines around the world and has become a rallying cry for governments to address the growing refugee crisis.

Given the ongoing Canadian federal election and the Canadian connection, that image and the government's response so far to the tragedy is now in the spotlight on the campaign trail.

On Thursday, the Canadian Press reported Fin Donnelly, who is running for re-election in Port Moody-Coquitlam, said he delivered a letter on behalf of the Kurdi family's Canadian relative to Alexander - the Tory government's citizenship and immigration minister -  in March but that the sponsorship request was not approved.

Alexander cancelled a TV morning show interview Thursday and announced he was suspending his campaign to head back to Ottawa.

"I am meeting with officials to ascertain both the facts of the case of the Kurdi family and to receive an update on the migrant crisis," Alexander said in a statement Thursday morning.

"The tragic photo of young Aylan Kurdi and the news of the death of his brother and mother broke hearts around the world.

"Like all Canadians, I was deeply saddened by that image and of the many other images of the plight of the Syrian and Iraqi migrants fleeing persecution at the hands of ISIS."

Alexander's statement went on to stress "Canada has one of the most generous per capita immigration and refugee resettlement programs in the world.

"In fact, Canada resettles more than one in ten refugees worldwide," he stated.

"Prime Minister (Stephen) Harper has set a target for Canada to accept 23,000 Iraqis refugees and 11,300 Syrians. Of that number Canada has already resettled nearly 22,000 Iraqis and 2,300 Syrians. The Prime Minister also recently announced that a Conservative Government would add an additional 10,000 persecuted ethnic and religious minorities from the region."

While campaigning in Brossard, Que., Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau was asked about Alexander's decision to get an update on the Kurdi family case.

"You don't get to suddenly discover compassion in the middle of an election campaign. You either have it or you don't," Trudeau said.

"This government has ignored these pleas of Canadian NGOs, of opposition parties and of the international community ... all believe that Canada should be doing more, should have been doing more."

Aylan's aunt, who lives in the Vancouver area, had sought to get Canadian refugee status for her relatives in the Syrian town of Kobani, which was devastated by battles between Islamic State and Kurdish fighters, legislator Fin Donnelly told The Canadian Press. Donnelly submitted the application on the family's behalf.

Immigration authorities rejected the application, in part because of the family's lack of exit visas to ease their passage out of Turkey and their lack of internationally recognized refugee status, the aunt, Teema Kurdi, told the newspaper the Ottawa Citizen. It said she is a hair stylist who moved to Canada more than 20 years ago.

Teema Kurdi said the family -- her brother Abdullah, his wife Rehan and their two boys, 3-year-old Aylan and five-year-old Galip-- embarked on the perilous boat journey only after their bid to move to Canada was rejected.

"I was trying to sponsor them, and I have my friends and my neighbours who helped me with the bank deposits, but we couldn't get them out, and that is why they went in the boat," she told the Citizen.

Canada's immigration minister Thursday suspended his re-election campaign to travel to Ottawa and look into why the Canadian government rejected the request. A senior government official said Chris Alexander wanted to determine the facts of the case.

The tides also washed up the bodies of Rehan and Galip on Turkey's Bodrum peninsula Wednesday. Abdullah survived the tragedy. In all, 12 migrants drowned when two boats carrying them from the Turkish coast to the Greek island of Kos capsized.

Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency said eight of the 12 were children. It said four suspected people-smugglers were detained Thursday on suspicion of acting as intermediaries in the illegal trafficking.

The agency said the suspects include at least one Syrian citizen. They are expected to appear in court Thursday to face charges.

Images of Aylan's body washing up on the shore and being taken away by a Turkish officer brought witnesses to tears and caused of wave of horror and reflection Thursday. The image was widely used in newspapers and on social media, leading some lawmakers to demand action.

In Britain, United Nations refugee agency representative Laura Padoan said publication of the photographs of Aylan may spark a major change in the public's perception of the burgeoning crisis.

"I think a lot of people will think about their own families and their own children in relation to those images," she said. "It is difficult for politicians to turn their backs on those kind of images and the very real tragedy that is happening."

Labour Party legislator Ann Clywd said constituents have been calling her since the photographs appeared.

"People are horrified," she told The Associated Press. "People are saying, 'Please, can we do something, this is disgraceful.'"

Lawmaker Nadhim Zahawi said on Twitter that the picture should "make us all ashamed."

"I am sorry little angel, RIP," he wrote.

- With files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press

A Turkish gendarmerie carries a young migrant, who drowned in a failed attempt to sail to the Greek island of Kos, in the coastal town of Bodrum, Turkey, Sept. 2, 2015. REUTERS/Nilufer Demir/DHA

I hope canada does not. There are   millions people in Benin, Mali, Chad, Sudan, Somalia displaced by jihadist muslims. One cannot solve the problem simply by accommodating refugees. It changes t he character of those places. I am sure the Yadzis want to go back to their villages since in them are located their sacred places and their cultural experiences. The same could be said of every refugee forced out by these brutes pretending allah give t hem the right. From Al Shabab, to Boko Haram to Isis, ( all now allies) there can be no accommodation to their brutality. They have to be hunted down so these people can live in their own culture and learn to value it by defending it.

Canada should accept some refugees, they have plenty space

I AGREE!!  If Bush the IDIOT did not attack Iraq and Afghanistan, this would not have happened

Meh bring meh Cutlish till pun guyana fuh chop Bush.

Bush is a Prick!

Refugees  welcomed by:

Saudi... 0
Kuwait... 0
Qatar... 0
Emirates... 0
Bahrain... 0

bECAUSE THEY DO NOT FRIGGING CARE!

Qatar will take slaves though

Ramjhattan and Moses will be the first to be shipped out.

Dat would be enslavement, the Jews dont play. They took some from Africa, dem brothers want to go back.

The politicians in Canada live very well. Unaware of the plights of poor Canadians. A refugee accepted in Canada will live much better than a retiree living off his pension. CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME.

Be generous to Canadians first.

The NDP leaders along with the other two, do not care about anybody other than themselves.

It is pure stupidity.

Both Canada and the US_of_A have lots of space and opportunities to accept the refugees.

Historically, both countries became inhabited by immigrants, with particular reference to those who are leaving their homelands for betterment in these countries.

Please let these people in. 

The aunt of Alan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler whose body washed up on a Turkish beach, said her brother's family should not have been forced to flee the civil war in Syria by paying smugglers for a dangerous boat trip.

"They didn't deserve to die, they didn't," said Tima Kurdi, who lives in Coquitlam, B.C.

She had given her brother, Abdullah Kurdi, the money to help his family flee on a rowboat to the Greek island of Kos from Turkey.

"They were going for a better life. It shouldn't happen, it shouldn't happen to them," she told reporters gathered outside of her house.

"Two weeks ago, Galib said to me, 'Auntie, can you buy me a bicycle?'" - Tima Kurdi, aunt of drowned toddler

The death of three-year-old Alan, who drowned along with his brother, Galib, 5, and mother, Reham, has drawn worldwide attention to the Syrian refugee crisis and placed the Canadian government under fire after it emerged the family had sought refugee status in Canada.

NDP MP Fin Donnelly said he wrote to Immigration Minister Chris Alexander on Tima Kurdi's behalf, asking for both brothers and their families to be granted refugee status. Nothing happened despite an inquiry from Alexander's staff, according to Donnelly.

Tima, also known as Fatima, made it clear Thursday that she had only applied to sponsor the family of her other brother, Mohammed, to come to Canada as refugees, contrary to earlier reports. The application was returned as incomplete, according to the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

'Auntie, can you buy me a bicycle?'

Abdullah Kurdi's family was living in Turkey as refugees after fleeing war in their hometown of Kobani, Syria, said Tima.

"Those two kids. They didn't see a good life at all," she said. "Two weeks ago, Galib said to me, 'Auntie, can you buy me a bicycle," she said, breaking down in tears over her lost nephews.

"He wanted a bicycle, like other kids. And I [had] said to my brother, one day I'll send you extra money, and you can buy him a bicycle."

She had given Abdullah the money to pay the traffickers to get his family to Europe via the Greek island of Kos.

The boy's mother, Reham, had been terrified of the sea crossing because she couldn't swim, Tima said.

"I told him I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have sent you the money to go," said Tima. "He said don't blame yourselves, I know you did it to help us."

Tima Kurdi

D2 SAID NO!!

Government officials say that the Syrian family whose young children drowned off the coast of Turkey didn’t formally apply for asylum and that an application was made instead for another relative.

The tragedy that struck the family of Abdullah Kurdi, who lost his wife, Rehanna, and their two sons, three-year-old Alan and Ghalib, 5, had made front-page headlines around the world.

Mr. Kurdi’s sister, Tima, lives in British Columbia and had said she petitioned Immigration Minister Chris Alexander to accept her relatives.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada said in a statement Thursday afternoon that the department had handled an application for another Kurdi brother, Mohammad, not for Abdullah and his family.

“An application for Mr. Mohammad Kurdi and his family was received by the department but was returned as it was incomplete as it did not meet regulatory requirements for proof of refugee status recognition,” the statement said.

“There was no record of an application received for Mr Abdullah Kurdi and his family.”

The department also denied that if had offered citizenship to Abdullah Kurdi. Reporters in Turkey had quoted him saying he refused an offer of citizenship.

During a tear-filled press conference, Tima said the family's efforts to get to Canada was hobbled by lack of money and paperwork requirements.

"To be honest I don't want to just blame the Canadian government...I'm blaming the whole world," she said.

She said Mohammad couldn't provide a Turkish document which was the equivalent of a work permit.

After his application was rejected, Mohammad made his way to Germany but his family is still stranded in Turkey, Tima said.

"He regrets being in Germany and leaving his family behind."

She said she hadn't filled an application for Abdullah's family because she couldn't afford it yet.

She wanted to sponsor her relatives privately, with guarantors among her family, friends and neighbours. "Financially, I said I can only sponsor one family at a time. I didn't ask the Canadian government for financial anything," she said.

Instead, she wrote a letter to which her local MP delivered to Mr. Alexander.

She said the letter asked "Please, is there any way you can help my family come here."

There was no response.

After she told Abdullah she could not afford to sponsor him, the family then decided to try to cross to Europe.

She sent money to pay smugglers, broken into smaller amounts so it could be wired more easily -- "one thousand here, one thousand there."

Abdullah was supposed to go by himself. But he said his wife couldn't work and won't have been able to support the children by herself in Turkey, even though Tima was sending money for the rent.

So the whole family decided to go together, even though the wife, Rehanna, said she was scared of the water.

Abdullah told a Syrian opposition radio that he paid $5,860 for four spaces on a five-metre-long dinghy, which was crammed with 12 passengers for the journey to Greece. Their boat sank off the Turkish coast Wednesday.

Tima Kurdi is overcome with emotion as she looks at photos of her late nephews Alan and Ghalib Kurdi, at her home in Coquitlam, B.C., Canada, on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015. The body of 3-year-old Syrian Alan Kurdi was found on a Turkish beach after the small rubber boat he, his 5-year old brother Ghalib and their mother, Rehanna, were in capsized during a desperate voyage from Turkey to Greece. The family stated that the spelling of the names had been changed by Turkish authorities to Aylan Galip and Rehan, but were in fact spelled as Alan and Ghalib and Rehanna.
(Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

He rass head got a BIG hole in it.  ISIS in Canada???

D2 is racist and Anti Muslim. His actions are shameless.

I am not too sure that he is anti muslim. He is more anti God.

He nor I for that matter cannot be anti-god.

How can an atheist be against something he/she does not believe in?

Weed mess up you head!

You rass want step outside?

Cool it down Guys. It is very humid but it must not get personal.

nah worry yugi, i jus gonna beat up on chief a lil bit then I gonna settle down aight?

Bro

I am not into violence. I also know that you are not a violent person. There is a very kind and gentle Cain behind that computer screen. I can read between the lines.

I beg to differ, this is what he posted on another thread:

"Obama better get off his backsides and sent in the troops in Syria and open up a safe haven to stop this ceaseless migration of people from their own curse, their own religion expressed in literal terms."

You better write your will before you step outside!