Canada took in a lot of Syrian refugees in 2016 and 2017 that didn't fit that bill. However, I think about half of the Syrian refugees we took in had to be "sponsored" privately by one or several Canadians (or community groups) whose responsibility it was to pay all their bills for travel, housing, furniture, clothing, food, job training...basically everything. They were also responsible for integrating the Syrians into Canadian society. My understanding is that the number of Canadians who volunteered to sponsor Syrians exceeded the number of refugees so that was nice to see. I know lots of older, retired folks pooled their resources and sponsored Syrian families. It was like they were raising a new family. Gave the retirees a sense of purpose and was a real benefit to the Syrians too because they had all these supporters to help them figure out what the heck to do in Canada. It set them up to be successful.
Anyway, to your larger point. It's absolutely merit-based and I have no complaints. We're overrun with friggin' Norwegians though.