Canadian Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marco Mendicino said Friday that his country will accept more refugees and their families this year as part of its efforts to solve the global refugee crisis. 

He added that Canada will accept nearly twice the number of protected persons, who have applied for asylum and obtained refugee status after arriving in the country, as well as their direct relatives abroad.

The new target number is 45,000, up from 23,500. The minister's comments come ahead of World Refugee Day on Sunday.

"We hope that we can facilitate their travel, clearly taking into account the travel restrictions in place," Mendicino said, referring to refugee family members.