SHARE THIS ARTICLE Share Tweet Post Email

Canada plans to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees by September 2016, 15 months ahead of a previously determined schedule, Immigration Minister Chris Alexander said Saturday.

The Canadian government is removing the United Nations refugee documentation requirement, doubling the size of its Winnipeg, Manitoba, application-processing office, and sending more immigration officers overseas in a resettlement plan costing C$25 million ($18.9 million).

“We’ve taken the time to come up with a plan that is practical and achievable, without compromising security,” said Alexander, speaking in Scarborough, Ontario.

Canada’s Conservative government said earlier this month that it was working on streamlining the approval process for refugees, following criticism from opposition parties and human-rights groups that it wasn’t doing enough to address the crisis.

The government has said refugees fleeing persecution, particularly religious minorities, would be prioritized.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in August that Canada would take in 10,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees over the next four years if his government is re-elected in October, in addition to the 10,000 Syrian and 3,000 Iraqi refugees the government said in January it would accept over three years. It also promised in 2013 to resettle 1,300 Syrians by the end of 2014. So far Canada has accepted 2,406 Syrian refugees, according to government data.

Harper’s party is in a tight three-way race with the centrist Liberal Party and the left-leaning New Democratic Party ahead of the Oct. 19 federal election.