The first planes filled with Syrian refugees are touching down in Canada this week. We will no longer just be following their heartbreaking stories from a distance. Some of the people caught in this devastating conflict, people who have been so hotly debated about in the media, in workplaces, and around dinner tables, will now have a new home and a new life here in Canada. In order for this transition to happen, the Canadian newcomers will need much more than roofs over their heads and three square meals a day. It's absolutely essential that they feel welcome and supported.
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By Hugh Brewster, National Manager of Canadian Programs, World Vision Canada
The first planes filled with Syrian refugees are touching down in Canada this week. And as these families step onto the chilly tarmac, a transformation will take place.
We will no longer just be following their heartbreaking stories from a distance. Some of the people caught in this devastating conflict, people who have been so hotly debated about in the media, in workplaces, and around dinner tables, will now have a new home and a new life here in Canada.
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Photo/World Vision
We may finally get a chance to meet them personally in the weeks to come, at the community rink, at the grocery store, and at our kids' schools. From this point onward, there's only one question we need to keep asking ourselves: how can we best welcome Syrian families as they adjust to life in Canada?
By getting involved and pitching in, we can all make a huge difference in the ease of their transition to life in our Canadian communities.
It's worked before
In my work with World Vision Canada's Canadian Programs, I've seen how Canadians can rise to the rewarding challenge of welcoming newcomers.
I've had the experience of meeting children in Toronto or Vancouver who just days before were fleeing violence and persecution on the other side of the world. I've seen them gaze around at their new surroundings with big, uncertain eyes. And heard them tentatively offer their first words in a brand new language.
As part of my work, I've had the privilege of meeting with the same children a year later, and hearing them tell me -- in English -- about a new friend at school or about their safe, quiet apartment. I've seen them delighting in kicking around a soccer ball with neighbourhood volunteers with whom they're now cooking dinner each week. This is what "welcome" looks like, in loving, human terms.
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In Hamilton, a community group cooks dinner with newcomer families, using produce they've grown together through an organization called A Rocha. Many of these newcomers have escaped Syria. Photo/World Vision
In order for this transition to happen, the Canadian newcomers will need much more than roofs over their heads and three square meals a day. It's absolutely essential that they feel welcome and supported.
Here are five ways Canadians can go beyond cash donations to help incoming Syrian families:
Understand the crisis and talk about it. Do your homework. Learn what the newcomers have been through. Use your knowledge to dispel myths with friends, families and co-workers to promote positive perceptions.
Share your knowledge online. Use the Twitter #CanadiansWelcome as a forum for ideas on how to help. World Vision will share friendly messages and videos with resettlement organizations.
Be a good neighbour. Contact local sponsorship committees or refugee service organizations and offer your time and your friendship. Offer to accompany newcomers to medical appointments, to make phone calls to arrange visits to potential apartments, or host a child's first tobogganing party at a local hill.
Donate professional time. Translators, language tutors, lawyers, family counselors and other professionals can assist their adaptation to life in Canada.
Do your own fundraising. Host a yard sale or bake sale or organize a local community event. Prepare to donate clothing and household items but make sure that they are items specifically requested by receiving organizations.
This is a golden opportunity for Canadians to show a true Canadian welcome and open our hearts to families who have been through so much. Syrian families will be adjusting to a whole new life, a new climate, a new everything.
Those sponsored by church or neighbourhood groups will have some committed volunteers on standby to help with some of the things they'll need. But government-assisted refugees in particular may lack connections to any 'established' Canadians. There are many practical things we can to do as 'good neighbours' to help them feel right at home.
It takes sponsorship or government assistance to bring these newcomers to Canada, but a warm welcome and ongoing support will help them thrive in their new home here in Canada.
Canada's Response To Syria Refugee Crisis Since 2011
2011(01 of16)
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In 2011, internal conflict erupted in Syria that would later escalate into a full-blown civil war that rages on to this day, now complicated by the arrival of Islamic militants from neighbouring Iraq.Since the start, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has called on countries to help resettle some of the most vulnerable Syrians who can never return home, a call that grew louder as the crisis has escalated.Here's a look at how Canada responded over time.(Information by The Canadian Press)Syrians hold a large poster depicting Syria's President Bashar Assad during a rally in Damascus, Syria in 2011. (credit:Muzaffar Salman/AP)
2012(02 of16)
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- Canada closes its embassy in Damascus, a move that would come to have major repercussions for refugee resettlement out of the Middle East as that visa post was handling the majority of the files for refugees from other countries who had sought temporary safety in Syria. Those files were then transferred to nearby countries, leaving visa officers scrambling to handle them and the start of a surge in Syrian refugee applications.- By the end of 2012, the UNHCR had registered close to half a million Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries.- Syrian Canadians call on Canada to do more to support the refugees, including speeding up family reunification programs and opening the doors to more refugees, but the government said without an official request from the UN for resettlement, it would not act.Syrian refugee girls wash their clothes at a camp in Idlib, Syria, in October of 2015. (credit:Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
March 2013(03 of16)
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The number of people registered as refugees from Syria or being assisted by the UN hits one million.A Syrian refugee boy at a camp in Turkey in October 2015. (credit:Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
June 2013(04 of16)
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The UN makes its first formal request to member countries to assist in refugee resettlement, asking for 30,000 spaces by the end of 2014.Syrian Kurdish refugees walk in the United Nations Refugee Agency refugee camp in Suruc, Sanliurfa province, in January 2015. (credit:Buulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)
July 2013(05 of16)
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The Harper Conservatives promise to admit 1,300 Syrian refugees by the end of 2014, with the majority sponsored by private groups. The 200 spots available to government-assisted refugees are not new refugee spaces — the Conservatives choose to allocate the 200 they set aside each year for the Syrian program.Stephen Harper speaks in the House of Commons. (credit:Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
January 2014(06 of16)
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Prime Minister Stephen Harper visits a refugee camp in Jordan, one of the main host countries for Syrians. He announces $150 million in humanitarian aid; over the course of the conflict Canada has been one of the lead financial donors for relief efforts in the Middle East and North Africa. By this point, some $630 million has been committed.Stephen Harper and wife Laureen Harper visit Za'atri Refugee Camp in Jordan in January 2014. (credit:Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
February 2014(07 of16)
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The UN High Commissioner makes a new request: an additional 100,000 places for Syrian refugees by 2016. Canada says it is reviewing its options.Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, speaks during a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland in October 2015. (credit:Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone/AP)
March 2014(08 of16)
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Conservative Immigration Minister Chris Alexander admits that fewer than 200 Syrian refugees have arrived in Canada since the July 2013 promise, saying the UNHCR was slow passing on referrals.Chris Alexander speaks in the House of Commons. (credit:Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
December 2014(09 of16)
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By the end of the month, just over 1,000 Syrian refugees have arrived in Canada, meaning the government missed its deadline.A Syrian Kurdish refugee walks in a UNHCR refugee camp in Suruc in January 2015. (credit:Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)
January 2015(10 of16)
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The Conservative government commits to allowing 10,000 more Syrian refugees in by 2018, most through the private sponsorship program. The focus is to be on religious minorities.Syrian refugee girls sit at the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) 'Child Friendly Spaces' in the Zaatari refugee camp, near the Jordanian border with Syria in 2014. (credit:Khalil Mazraawi/Getty Images)
March 2015(11 of16)
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The government finally meets its July 2013 promise to resettle 1,300 people, achieving it by increasing the number of government-assisted refugees.Stephen Harper gives the thumbs up during a photo opportunity. (credit:Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press)
June 2015(12 of16)
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The Conservatives order an audit of the government-assisted refugees coming out of Syria, citing security concerns. The review identifies no problems but delays the processing of those files for several weeks.Chris Alexander speaks at a press conference in Toronto in September, 2015. (credit:Aaron Vincent Elkaim/The Canadian Press)
August 2015(13 of16)
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The Conservatives pledge that if re-elected, they will allow a further 10,000 Syrians in over the next four years, continuing a focus on those being persecuted because of religion.Stephen Harper takes questions from the media on the campaign trail. (credit:Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
September 2015(14 of16)
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- Three-year-old Alan Kurdi dies during his family's escape from Syria. The photograph of his body on a Turkish beach and word his family had considered Canada as an eventual destination sees Canada's refugee response become a dominant issue in the election campaign.- The Conservatives increase available resources for the processing of refugee applications, promise to speed up resettlement of the 10,000 originally promised places and announce they'll match donations for Syrian relief.- The Liberals say they'll bring over 25,000 government-assisted refugees as soon as possible and encourage the private sector to take in more. They later promise to bring them in by the end of the year.A handout photo courtesy of Tima Kurdi shows a photo of her three-year-old nephew Alan Kurdi. (credit:Tima Kurdi/The Canadian Press)
October 2015(15 of16)
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The Liberals win a majority government and say they remain committed to refugee resettlement.Justin Trudeau waves to the crowd as they arrive to Liberal election headquarters in Montreal. (credit:Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
November 2015(16 of16)
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The Liberal government announces its plan to resettle 25,000 Syrians.Immigration Minister John McCallum holds a news conference with Health Minister Jane Philpott and Defence Minister Harijit Singh Sajjan. (credit:Fred Chartrand/The Canadian Press)
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