In Sweden, Governor General talks immigration, refugees alongside trade
OTTAWA — Gov. Gen. David Johnston found himself talking about Canada’s system of private sponsorship for refugees during a trip to Sweden this week, arriving just as the Scandinavian country found itself in the crosshairs of the new American president over immigration.
Johnston said the idea of mobilizing private groups to sponsor refugees and help them out financially when they first arrive is a foreign concept to many countries, including Sweden. He said Swedish officials have shown a keen interest in Canada’s private system as a way to overcome immigration and integration challenges.
As of January, more than one-third of the Syrian refugees recently brought to Canada came through the private sponsorship program.
In Sweden, the government has enacted stricter border controls along with other measures to curb the number of asylum-seeking refugees, a figure that spiked to about 162,000 in 2015.