Glenn Davidson, former ambassador to Syria, calls on Canada to accept more refugees

A former Canadian ambassador to Syria says the country should be able to increase the number of Syrian refugees it accepts "quite significantly" but it will require more than a desire to help.

Glenn Davidson, who served as ambassador in Syria from September 2008 until March 2012, says the public's interest in assisting people displaced by the war in Syria is "growing dramatically" but whether it will be possible to increase the number of refugees accepted will depend on national will.

"I think there is a sense now across Canada that people want to help. I hope this translates into will on the part of the government of Canada to increase the refugee quota to move more quickly and to make it possible for communities that want to help to do so," says Davidson, who now lives in Halifax.

Four million Syrians have already fled Syria, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which estimates that another 7.6 million people are displaced inside the country.

The federal government announced in January that Canada would resettle 10,000 more Syrian refugees over the next three years in response to the UN's request to increase admission numbers.

Davidson says increasing the number of refugees accepted from Syria would require coordination between government and organizations that assist refugees. For instance, he says teams would to go overseas, with overtime approved, to allow for that.

"There's a need for direction, the agencies, departments within government that can make this happen need to be aligned. It needs to be a priority. They all need to be told to pull together," he says.

Earlier this week, a group of about 60 people met in Hubbards to discuss sponsoring two Syrian families. Davidson attended the meeting.

"It's a good example of a small community with a big heart," he says.

Another group of volunteers in Antigonish recently raised $10,000 to sponsor a refugee family from Syria.

Davidson says he hopes other community groups have the support and the means to follow through with sponsorship goals.

Weighing risk in Syria

Davidson says living and working in Syria in recent years posed risks.

He says over the course of his last year in Syria, part of his job was assessing that risk and how long the embassy could stay open.

"There comes a point where you weigh risk to your staff. The climate at the time was such where there had been organized attacks on other embassies. We were very exposed," he says.

He says staff handling immigration were moved to adjacent countries and other capitals to continue that work.