Hamilton MPP and provincial cabinet minister Ted McMeekin says he expects about 300 Syrian refugee families – about 1,200 to 1,500 people – are headed for the city.

"That's my hunch – we won't know until the federal government makes their announcement on Tuesday. But I think it will be similar a similar to Operation Lifeline (which brought 60,000 refugees from Indochina to Canada in the late 1970s), we took in about 300 families then."

[Refugees who call Hamilton home share their experiences]

And he's hoping as many as half of those families can be privately sponsored.

"Hamilton has a wonderful history of being there to help people in need like this, we've done it before," he added, again referring to Operation Lifeline.

McMeekin said he and local liberal MPs Bob Bratina and Filomena Tassi met with Mayor Fred Eisenberger Saturday to discuss plans and agreed to meet again as soon as the federal government unveils details of their plan to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees in Canada by the end of the year. The federal announcement is scheduled for Tuesday.

While there has been much speculation about the details of that plan, McMeekin said he's less worried about the large scale logistics (rumoured to involve flying in 1,000 people a day, beginning Dec. 5), than he is about the specifics of their lives once they arrive in Hamilton.

[A long and dangerous road to Hamilton through bloodstained Syria]

"That's why private sponsorships are so important – to help these families with acculturation."

In addition to obvious issues with housing, McMeekin said education will be critical and the city will need to provide English as a second language training as well as schooling for the children by mid-January. He suggested there may be a special role for the French language boards, since many Syrian refugees may speak French.

Tipping his hat to the planning work being co-ordinated by Wesley Urban Ministries, McMeekin said it's not a job that can be left to the government alone.

"It's a major, major effort – that is the only way this is going to work."

How refugees are screened

Refugees face a triple layer of screening – plus a separate medical screening – before they are accepted for resettlement in Canada. The process can take years – although government sponsored refugees can be moved through the system more quickly than privately sponsored ones. (There are reports the medical screening might be streamlined, restricted to a "fitness to fly" exam, to speed up processing.)

1)Registering with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees:

• Tell their story of how they escaped and why;

• Confirm their identity through documents, biometric security screening, including iris scanning;

• Red flag any cases of war crimes or criminality.

2) UNHCR resettlement list

• Triage refugees and select 1 per cent who could be resettled;

• Interview candidates again;

• Priority given to the vulnerable, including those with medical problems, single mothers and children;

• Single young men unlikely to make the cut.

3) Interview with Canadian visa officers

• One-on-one interviews with visa officers in the Middle East;

• Confirm story again;

• Run names through databases of Canadian Border Services Agency, Canadian Security Intelligence Service and RCMP.

With files from The Toronto Star

Refugee numbers

4.1 million: The number of people who have fled Syria's civil war since 2011, most landing in the neighbouring countries of Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. It is from this group, most already registered with the UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees), that Canada's government sponsored refugees will be drawn.

25,000: The number of government-sponsored Syrian refugees Canada has promised to resettle this year. There are signs that they will only hit their target by including privately-sponsored refugees, and will meet their full quota by early next year.

10,000: The number of refugees earmarked for Ontario.

1,200 to 1,500: Estimate of how many federally-sponsored Syrian refugees could be Hamilton-bound.

900: The number of refugees to be flown out of Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon daily beginning Dec. 1, according to a leaked planning document.

600: The approximate number of refugees settled in Hamilton per year up until now.

