Open your doors to Syrians, Metro residents asked
Metro Vancouver residents are being asked to open their homes and communities to the estimated 2,700 Syrian refugees expected to arrive in this province in the coming weeks.
John McCallum, the new minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship, has said the Liberal government intends to fulfil a promise to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada by Dec. 31.
The department has not indicated how many will be coming to B.C., said Chris Friesen, settlement services director with the Immigrant Services Society of B.C. But based on past settlement patterns, he said, the province can reasonably expect to host 10 to 11 per cent of the total.
An analysis by Immigrant Services of refugee settlement patterns over the past decade suggests three quarters of the new Syrian arrivals will end up in Surrey, Coquitlam and Burnaby. Vancouver and New Westminster round out the top five destinations in B.C.
Accommodating three times the number of refugees B.C. takes in each year in the space of a couple of months poses a challenge.
This is why Friesen, along with municipal politicians from Surrey, Vancouver and Coquitlam, will issue a call to action Tuesday, asking Metro Vancouver residents to open their homes and volunteer their time.
As of Tuesday, the Immigrant Services Society website will have a place where people can sign up to help, Friesen said.
One of the biggest challenges will be accommodation.
The military is likely to play a key role initially, bringing refugees to Canadian Forces bases at Trenton, Ont. and Greenwood, N.S., and dispersing them across the country from there, Friesen said. This is similar to what happened with Kosovar refugees in the late 1990s. However, the two bases are not big enough to accommodate 25,000, so refugee reception centres such as Metro Vancouver can expect to see arrivals within weeks, he added.
“We’re now madly going out and soliciting hotels with kitchenettes throughout Metro Vancouver to set up temporary reception facilities where we can find them,” Friesen said.
“There’s talk about initiating the cities’ emergency housing protocols, so looking at cots on gymnasium floors, calling on church halls and exploring the Jericho barracks, everything, for immediate use in providing transitional housing for the short term.”
Some churches have already stepped forward to offer accommodation, he added.
Public help will be needed to assist refugees with longer-term housing, Friesen said.
“Rooms in people’s houses, basement suites, vacant houses on church property, everything.”
Immigrant services groups also want to hear from people in a position to help in other ways, such as Arabic translators, trauma counsellors, health and dental professionals and potential employers, Friesen said.
The Immigrant Services Society, which is contracted to resettle government-assisted refugees to this province, has asked the federal government for an initial 100 staff members and $6 million to deal with the expanded workload.
Meanwhile, the B.C. cities likely to absorb most of the Syrian refugees are preparing for their arrival.
Surrey councillor Judy Villeneuve said the city is waiting to see how many Syrian refugees will be directed there, and will work with Immigrant Services, B.C. Housing and Surrey-based immigrant services organizations to find them a place to go. It’s something the city has been doing for a long time, she added.
“I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. We do have people who have privately sponsored refugees and may open up their homes. We have churches and community groups that will ... assist with looking for housing. Surrey is a really connected community that will work together.”
Many of the refugees will be used to living in cities and will be fairly well-educated, Villeneuve said.
“I think the Syrian refugees are going to be an asset to our communities.”
They are also likely to be young. Immigrant Services estimates that close to 40 per cent will be under the age of 19 and historically, Surrey has been the destination of choice for refugee families with young children. This is something of a concern in a city where many schools are already at or over capacity, Villeneuve said, noting that Vancouver has many schools that are half empty.
This is why a region-wide strategy will be needed to integrate the new arrivals, she said.
There will be a daylong meeting on Nov. 16 involving immigrant services organizations, municipal officials from across the region, health authorities, school boards and provincial agencies such as B.C. Housing to get a sense of things like school capacity and subsidized housing availability throughout the region.
Locating newly-arrived Syrians outside Metro Vancouver is challenging because in most places the community supports, such as translators or trauma counsellors, do not exist, Friesen said, noting that the province of B.C. is considering build up this capacity in other areas. Greater Victoria is the only other region in B.C. that may be able to take in some of the government-assisted Syrian refugees, he said.
Vancouver councillor Geoff Meggs called the Syrian arrivals “an exciting challenge” and a topic that came up in the first telephone conversation Mayor Gregor Robertson had with Justin Trudeau after he became prime minister last week.
“I think people have been waiting for the opportunity to lend a hand,” he said.
But until the federal government indicates a number and timeline for Syrian refugee arrivals, Vancouver is taking a wait-and-see approach.
“Until it’s really clear who’s coming and how fast, it’s going to be difficult for the city to really make concrete plans. It’s tough in Vancouver ... there just isn’t any empty space. We have a big task on our hands every winter to make sure we have winter shelters in place, which are absolutely minimal in terms of amenities,” Meggs said.
“So it’s a challenge, and one that we’ll have to tackle regionally.”
source: Open your doors to Syrians, Metro residents asked
Metro Vancouver residents are being asked to open their homes and communities to the estimated 2,700 Syrian refugees expected to arrive in this province in the coming weeks.
John McCallum, the new minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship, has said the Liberal government intends to fulfil a promise to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada by Dec. 31.
The department has not indicated how many will be coming to B.C., said Chris Friesen, settlement services director with the Immigrant Services Society of B.C. But based on past settlement patterns, he said, the province can reasonably expect to host 10 to 11 per cent of the total.
An analysis by Immigrant Services of refugee settlement patterns over the past decade suggests three quarters of the new Syrian arrivals will end up in Surrey, Coquitlam and Burnaby. Vancouver and New Westminster round out the top five destinations in B.C.
Accommodating three times the number of refugees B.C. takes in each year in the space of a couple of months poses a challenge.
This is why Friesen, along with municipal politicians from Surrey, Vancouver and Coquitlam, will issue a call to action Tuesday, asking Metro Vancouver residents to open their homes and volunteer their time.
As of Tuesday, the Immigrant Services Society website will have a place where people can sign up to help, Friesen said.
One of the biggest challenges will be accommodation.
The military is likely to play a key role initially, bringing refugees to Canadian Forces bases at Trenton, Ont. and Greenwood, N.S., and dispersing them across the country from there, Friesen said. This is similar to what happened with Kosovar refugees in the late 1990s. However, the two bases are not big enough to accommodate 25,000, so refugee reception centres such as Metro Vancouver can expect to see arrivals within weeks, he added.
“We’re now madly going out and soliciting hotels with kitchenettes throughout Metro Vancouver to set up temporary reception facilities where we can find them,” Friesen said.
“There’s talk about initiating the cities’ emergency housing protocols, so looking at cots on gymnasium floors, calling on church halls and exploring the Jericho barracks, everything, for immediate use in providing transitional housing for the short term.”
Some churches have already stepped forward to offer accommodation, he added.
Public help will be needed to assist refugees with longer-term housing, Friesen said.
“Rooms in people’s houses, basement suites, vacant houses on church property, everything.”
Immigrant services groups also want to hear from people in a position to help in other ways, such as Arabic translators, trauma counsellors, health and dental professionals and potential employers, Friesen said.
The Immigrant Services Society, which is contracted to resettle government-assisted refugees to this province, has asked the federal government for an initial 100 staff members and $6 million to deal with the expanded workload.
Meanwhile, the B.C. cities likely to absorb most of the Syrian refugees are preparing for their arrival.
Surrey councillor Judy Villeneuve said the city is waiting to see how many Syrian refugees will be directed there, and will work with Immigrant Services, B.C. Housing and Surrey-based immigrant services organizations to find them a place to go. It’s something the city has been doing for a long time, she added.
“I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. We do have people who have privately sponsored refugees and may open up their homes. We have churches and community groups that will ... assist with looking for housing. Surrey is a really connected community that will work together.”
Many of the refugees will be used to living in cities and will be fairly well-educated, Villeneuve said.
“I think the Syrian refugees are going to be an asset to our communities.”
They are also likely to be young. Immigrant Services estimates that close to 40 per cent will be under the age of 19 and historically, Surrey has been the destination of choice for refugee families with young children. This is something of a concern in a city where many schools are already at or over capacity, Villeneuve said, noting that Vancouver has many schools that are half empty.
This is why a region-wide strategy will be needed to integrate the new arrivals, she said.
There will be a daylong meeting on Nov. 16 involving immigrant services organizations, municipal officials from across the region, health authorities, school boards and provincial agencies such as B.C. Housing to get a sense of things like school capacity and subsidized housing availability throughout the region.
Locating newly-arrived Syrians outside Metro Vancouver is challenging because in most places the community supports, such as translators or trauma counsellors, do not exist, Friesen said, noting that the province of B.C. is considering build up this capacity in other areas. Greater Victoria is the only other region in B.C. that may be able to take in some of the government-assisted Syrian refugees, he said.
Vancouver councillor Geoff Meggs called the Syrian arrivals “an exciting challenge” and a topic that came up in the first telephone conversation Mayor Gregor Robertson had with Justin Trudeau after he became prime minister last week.
“I think people have been waiting for the opportunity to lend a hand,” he said.
But until the federal government indicates a number and timeline for Syrian refugee arrivals, Vancouver is taking a wait-and-see approach.
“Until it’s really clear who’s coming and how fast, it’s going to be difficult for the city to really make concrete plans. It’s tough in Vancouver ... there just isn’t any empty space. We have a big task on our hands every winter to make sure we have winter shelters in place, which are absolutely minimal in terms of amenities,” Meggs said.
“So it’s a challenge, and one that we’ll have to tackle regionally.”
source: Open your doors to Syrians, Metro residents asked
