It seems these people fleeing for their lives were just not ready to come to Canada.They were too busy saying goodbye to family and friends and those with assets needed time to sell them
In the olden days, "refugee" or more specifically, "Convention refugee" had a specific legal meaning. That was before Western governments became enamoured with the migrants that were swarming into Europe from the Middle East.
Under the 1951 Geneva Convention, Convention refugee was defined as "someone who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country."
This doctrine of international law was incorporated into the domestic law of several countries including Canada and the United States.