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Canada’s Immigration department had accumulated a backlog of nearly 7,500 applications from Syrian refugees by the time three-year-old Alan Kurdi’s lifeless body washed up on a Turkish beach at the beginning of September, the Citizen has learned.

Of those stuck in limbo, nearly 2,000 had been identified by the United Nations as being amongst the most vulnerable — and whose applications had been put on hold for at least several weeks by the Prime Minister’s Office in the spring.

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The government did not respond to questions about why there was such a backlog, or how many files remain unprocessed today. But some are concerned it may be related to the government’s desire to prioritize some groups of Syrian refugees over others.

The refugee crisis emerged on the election campaign trail again Friday, after a CTV report said the Prime Minister’s Office had gone through refugee applicant files to make sure Christians and other minority groups were given priority to come to Canada.