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Quebec is planning to do more to help the plight of Syrian refugees, the government announced Monday morning. But first it must get the federal government on board with its plans.

Minister of Immigration, Diversity and Inclusiveness Kathleen Weil, flanked by Christine St-Pierre, minister of international relations and la francophonie, unveiled a plan that calls for Quebec to welcome an additional 2,450 Syrian refugees for the remainder of 2015, on top of the original quota of 1,200.

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Of those 2,450 new refugees, Quebec is asking that it be allowed to sponsor 650 (on top of the 400 originally planned), while the remaining 1,800 would be sponsored privately.

“There’s a number of measures we are proposing to streamline the process of collective private sponsorship,” said Weil. “That is where we can really act without the authorization of the federal government. We have already been mobilizing these (community) groups and we are getting a lot of interest. Many people want to help.”