Ottawa, November 19/07 - The Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), today announced measures to assist families affected by the humanitarian crisis in Iraq.

"In an effort to further help those impacted by the situation in Iraq, we're giving priority Immigration services to those from Iraq and surrounding countries who have close family members in Canada," said the Minister.

CIC's Visa office in Damascus, Syria, will process on a priority basis applications for permanent residence under the Family Class for Iraqi nationals directly affected by the situation in Iraq.  The measure already applies to spouses, common-law and conjugal partners, and dependent children, and will now be extended to parents, grandparents and other orphaned family members sponsored by Canadian citizens and permanent residents.  It also applies to the dependents of protected persons in Canada.  CIC will continue to monitor the situation and will review the need for priority processing in one year's time.

"Working to reunite families as quickly as possible is another measure we've taken in addition to welcoming refugees from that part of the world," stated the Minister.  "The usual security and medical checks will still be carried out, but every effort will be made to help people in need come to Canada."

For more information on this, people may consult the CIC Web site at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/index.asp or call 1-888-242-2100 (in Canada only).