First of all, Mr. Chair, I would remind the member that the government announced in 2010 an increase of 20% in our targets for refugee resettlement. That means increasing the number of refugees resettled from 11,500 in 2010 to 14,000 to reach our target last year, and that was a gradual increase.
Unfortunately, as the member said, we missed our target last year because of the war in Syria. In fact, our largest refugee resettlement program was for Iraqis in Syria, with a target of 4,000 a year, for the government's private sponsorship and resettlement programs. Because of the civil war in Syria, we had to close our immigration office in Damascus. It was the largest in the global network for processing the applications from resettled refugees. It enormously hindered our ability to process those applications. That is why we were only able to admit about 2,000 Iraqi refugees last year, compared to our target of 4,000. So, it is true that we missed that target.
I also want to point out that we had some operational challenges in East Africa, particularly at the Nairobi immigration office, which covers 18 countries with an enormous number of refugees. However, I am working closely with the two departments to find operational solutions for resettled refugees from the Middle East. For example, I increased our targets for Iranian and Iraqi refugees in Turkey, with those files being processed in Ankara. We also moved most of our operational resources for refugees from Damascus to Ankara. We are also working with the UN to identify other priority populations for refugee resettlement.