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On Wednesday, photos of a small boy, dressed in a red shirt and blue pants, complete with velcro shoes, brought attention to the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean as refugees from conflict in the Middle East flee the devastation.

Warning to readers: The Citizen has chosen to include below a graphic image of the boy’s body, which some readers may find offensive.

The boys were Kurdish refugees from Kobane, Syria, whose family had been desperately trying to emigrate to Canada. Galib Kurdi, five, and his three-year-old brother, Alan, died along with their mother, Rehand, and eight other refugees when their boat overturned in a desperate flight from Turkey to the Greek island of Kos.

The boys’ father, Abdullah, survived. He told Reuters that Canada has now offered him citizenship but he had declined.

Speaking at a campaign stop in Toronto Thursday, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said the government must immediately comply with a United Nations request to take in 10,000 more refugees from Syria.

“We could take them in immediately, that’s clear,” he said.

“It would be very easy today to start assigning blame. Certainly Minister Chris Alexander has some questions to answer. Today, the question is what is the origin of this collective international failure and what is our current obligation collectively to find answers? Enough is enough. We cannot continue to see these images.”

At a press conference in Brossard, Que., Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said, “Canada should be doing more, and should have done more.