I can directly answer.
On your first question, we do submit Yazidis for resettlement, not only out of Turkey, but also, for instance, out of Lebanon. However, the largest number of Iraqi Yazidis is in Turkey. In Lebanon there are more Syrian Yazidis, but for this Canadian program, the plan is to resettle not just out of Turkey, but also, as I mentioned, Lebanon.
To comment on your last question, as I said, the situation in Turkey is such that they have to register first with the Turkish authorities. We do encourage them to do so. We do speak with the Turkish authorities, because quite a number of Yazidis live in southeastern Turkey close to Iraq, and they are not that easy for us to reach out to. Now we are much more focused on doing that, and we encourage them to register with the Turkish system so that we can then prepare the files.
I also want to take this opportunity to say something else, which is that in previous discussions there has been some criticism of the waiting time within the UNHCR itself, such as, for instance, that for a Yazidi to get an interview and to get prepared for resettlement, the time is far too long. We have taken action. If we clearly have very vulnerable people, we fast-track them. We put them in front. We now have diversified our own determination procedures so that those extremely vulnerable refugees go to the front of the queue.
I also have to say that one reason it takes us so long in Turkey is that if we prepare cases for resettlement and they need to be determined as refugees for us, but we have too few places, that is a reason, unfortunately, for us to not accelerate too much. When we have more resettlement offers, it spurs us into action to fast-track many more cases. I say this particularly with a view to the Yazidi claims.
This is also a partial answer to your question of how many dossiers we can refer in the next 120 days. I cannot give you a clear answer, because it's not dependent just on us. It's also dependent on what the Government of Canada is able to process. I can tell you something, though. If we base ourselves on vulnerability as the main criteria, and if I were to mention a number, there are some 230,000 Iraqis in the region, and if I tell you now that over 50,000 have been registered by us as having special needs, then you can see there is a large number, so we have a large enough group, including Yazidis. I can tell you that we have hundreds and hundreds of cases that we could possibly refer, but it means resources, and it also takes two to tango: we need to also see what the Government of Canada is able to take further.
I want to reassure this House that there will be a sizable number that you can bring over when it comes to our work and the types of profiles we have.