Canada 'to turn away single male refugees' amid fears over Paris attacks

'All these refugees are vulnerable but some are more vulnerable than others,' Quebec's premier says

Many Syrian refugees have ended up in overwhelmed camps on European islands like Greece's Lesbos (Getty)

Canada is expected to turn away single male Syrian refugees, amid fears following the deadly Paris attacks.

Plans expected to be unveiled mean only whole families, single women or children on their own will be accepted.

Canadian public broadcaster CBC said the country's resettlement plan would not extend to unaccompanied men. It comes after reports two of the eight men who killed a total of 130 people in Paris on 13 November were posing as refugees.

Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard seemed to corroborate the report ahead of a meeting with Justin Trudeau, Canada's recently elected Prime Minister.

“All these refugees are vulnerable but some are more vulnerable than others, for example, women, families and also members of religious minorities who are oppressed”, he said.

Speaking to Radio Canada, Faisal Alazem of the Syrian Canadian Council, a non-profit group planning to sponsor refugees, said “this is not the ideal scenario”.

“I think what happened in Paris has really changed the dynamic and public opinion," he said.

Following the attack in Paris, which were claimed by Isis, an Ipsos poll for Global News suggested 60 per cent of Canadians disagreed with plans to accept refugees,

Meanwhile, six in 10 people said they believed there were higher security risks associated with allowing refugees to settle in Canada, according to a separate poll by Forum Research.

A plan to settle 25,000 refugees has been set out by Mr Trudeau, who wants to fast-track the settlement to happen before the end of the year.

He has faced criticism from opposing parties over the plan, but has insisted security screening will continue to be a high priority.

Former Conservative Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper had previously declined to re-settle more refugees.

Canada’s ambassador to Jordan, Bruno Saccomani, confirmed refugees from camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey would be flown to Canada from December 1.

According to Petra news agency, he said the operation would cost around CAD $1.2 billion (£590million).

Canada has prided its self on helping asylum seekers, having taken in more than 1.2 million refugees since the Second World War, including those from Kosovo in the 1990s, Uganda in 1972 and more than 60,000 Vietnamese between 1979 and 1980.

In excess of four million Syrians have fled their country due to conflict since 2011.