VICTORIA — Premier Christy Clark was in tears today as pledged $1 million to help community groups settle Syrian refugees in B.C.

Clark broke down as she talked about the death of three-year-old Alan Kurdi, who drowned with his mother and five-year-old brother Ghalib. The family had hoped to come to B.C.

"I think every parent or uncle or aunt or brother or sister who saw that picture of Alan Kurdi on the beach would have been struck by how little he was — a tiny little figure on the beach," she said, before pausing to compose herself.

"And I think we all want to make sure that we do everything we can as Canadians to make sure that children and families like Alan Kurdi's find a way to Canada so that they don't have to face that kind of distress, that kind of loss."

Clark said the government will be meeting agencies and individuals to determine how best to distribute money in the new one-time "readiness fund."

"We're going to start working with immigrant settlement groups, community groups to see exactly how we'll deploy that money — where the gaps are," she said. "That'll give us a better understanding of what more we might need to do."

The province has also set up a toll free number at 1-877-952-6914 that community groups and private sponsors can call to get help navigating the bureaucracy of refugee sponsorship.

"Lots of people have said that's really hard to do," she said. "We'll help you find your way through that process, so that it's as easy as possible for community groups, churches, individuals to put together the plan to be able to sponsor refugees into our province from Syria."

The government said its readiness fund will complement existing federal and provincial programs.

"British Columbians have told us that they want to help and as a government we want to make sure that we're doing everything we can to respond to the generosity of British Columbians," she said.

Alberta's NDP government will soon bring forward a plan to assist Syrian refugees in that province.

Lori Sigurdson, the cabinet minister responsible for the immigration file, revealed few details but said Alberta has the capacity to help more refugees who are fleeing the war-torn country.

She also said she believes Canada could accept more refugees.

"The tragedy of the Syrian refugees is very troubling for this government and we are working on a plan for Alberta," Sigurdson, the Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour Minister, said at an event at Mount Royal University Tuesday.

"We're concerned about really vulnerable people having no place to go. We're a rich jurisdiction. We'd like to be able to support vulnerable people."

The federal Conservative government has said Canada will take in 11,300 refugees by the end of 2018. Federal NDP Leader Tom Mulcair has called on Canada to accept 10,000 immediately.

As British Columbia joins other provinces pledging support for displaced Syrians, an immigration expert says calls for Canada to accept more refugees fail to address the crucial question of who would foot the bill.

University of Toronto sociology professor Monica Boyd said such requests amount to asking the federal government to pay the tab — about $35,000 per refugee family in the first year.

But the topic of funding is absent from the discussion taking place publicly between a growing list of provinces and Ottawa, she noted.

“They’re having a conversation in the middle of a marshmallow,” said Boyd, who is also the Canada Research Chair in Immigration, Inequality and Public Policy. “What that means is there are certain things that aren’t being said, namely: ’Where’s the money coming from?”’

Under current regulations, provinces are legally not allowed to sponsor refugees — only the federal government and private citizens have that power. But that hasn’t stopped provinces from chiming in with announcements ranging from demands to boost immigration numbers to provincial funding for refugee support programs.

On Monday, Quebec announced it was prepared to take in 3,650 Syrian refugees by the end of the year — 2,450 more than initially planned.

The province promised $29 million to assist in that effort, with most of the money going towards language training, job aid, education and health care.

Late last week, Ontario called on Ottawa to accept 5,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2015, while Manitoba committed $40,000 to help settlement service providers accommodate hundreds additional refugees in the coming months.

“The provinces are saying, ’Listen, we can support a lot more than what you’re currently bringing in. We can absorb these people. We have the transportation infrastructure; we have the schooling infrastructure; we have assisted housing infrastructure.”’ Boyd said.

“They’re not saying, ’We will pay for these individuals to come,’ and in part they can’t because that is not their political mandate.”

Click here to read more stories from The Victoria Times Colonist.

- with files from The Canadian Press and the Calgary Herald

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