As Canada brings in people fleeing war in Sudan, families scramble to make the cut

As It Happens6:54As Canada brings in people fleeing war in Sudan, families scramble to make the cut

Ashraf alTahir Ahmed worries that if he can’t get his elderly parents out of Sudan, they’ll die.

The Markham, Ont., man is one of many Sudanese Canadians scrambling to get their relatives to safety under a new federal program for Canadians’ family members fleeing Sudan’s civil war. 

But while millions of Sudanese people have been displaced by the war, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is accepting 3,250 applications, max.

“To tell you the truth, I don’t understand the rationale behind [the cap]” Ahmed, president of the Sudanese Canadian