Canada divided as 25,000 Syrian refugees settle in

TORONTO, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Canadians remain divided about
the resettlement of Syrian refugees, with some saying Canada
should accept more despite a series of racist incidents that
have marred a mostly smooth arrival of nearly 25,000 migrants, a
poll showed on Friday.
Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was elected in October
on a promise to accept more Syrian refugees more quickly than
the previous Conservative government had allowed, but the
original deadline for accepting 25,000 by the end of 2015 proved
too ambitious and the timeline was extended by two months.
During his election campaign, Trudeau said a Liberal
government would work with private sponsors to accept "even
more" than the immediate goal of 25,000, and Immigration
Minister John McCallum said in December the government could
double the intake to 50,000 by the end of 2016.
A poll by the Angus Reid Institute released on Friday showed
52 percent of Canadians support the plan to resettle 25,000
refugees before the end of February, while 44 percent opposed
the program.
The poll also showed that 42 percent of respondents want
Canada to stop taking in Syrian refugees, while 29 percent said
Canada should stop at 25,000 and 29 percent said the country
should accept even more.
Some 21,672 Syrian refugees - sponsored by both private
citizens and the government - have arrived in Canada since
November, dispersing into more than 200 communities, according
to the Immigration Department.
While the arrival has been smooth for privately sponsored
refugees supported by families or community groups, hundreds of
government-sponsored refugees have struggled to find housing and
remain in hotels in Toronto, where the housing market is tight
and expensive.
There has also been a scattering of racist incidents,
including one last week in which graffiti was sprayed on a
school in the western Canadian city of Calgary urging "Syrians
go home and die" and "kill the traitor Trudeau."
The prime minister responded on Twitter: "Canadians have
shown the best of our country in welcoming refugees. That spirit
won't be diminished by fear and hate."
In January, a group of Syrian refugees were pepper-sprayed
by a cyclist in Vancouver, an attack Trudeau also condemned on
Twitter (N:TWTR).