One year ago this week, 163 Syrian refugees were greeted at the airport by Justin Trudeau. Photograph: Mark Blinch/Reuters
The Guardian: Syrian refugees in Canada lose support one year on: 'How are we going to live?'
Families must find work or enroll in social assistance programs when monthly allowance ends, as Canada responds to transition: ‘We can’t abandon them’.
Minutes after her 25-hour flight touched down in Toronto, Shoruk Alsakni burst into tears.
Some four years earlier, she – along with her husband, mother-in-law and six children – had fled the growing violence and terror of Aleppo, ending up in Turkey. Now the family was again starting over – this time in a country she knew almost nothing about.
“I was afraid of everything,” Alsakni said. “I was scared for my children. I didn’t know anyone in Canada.”
Her family was among the 35,745 Syrian refugees brought into Canada in the past year, in what now ranks as one of the largest refugee resettlement movements in Canadian history.
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WNU Editor: My blood boils when I read stories like this one. I am an immigrant to Canada .... and the support that I received from both the federal and Provincial governments when I applied was zero. Granted .... I already knew both official languages in Canada (English and French), I do not come from a war zone, I already had a job working for the UN (ICAO in Montreal), and I had money in the bank. So I know that I cannot be compared to these Syrian refugees. But over the years I have taken care of immigrants from Russia, Ukraine, China, and South Korea .... where in many cases they were not fluent in English and French, they had little if any money, no employment, and in the case of Ukraine .... some of those that I have helped were fleeing from a war-zone and who had experienced trauma from what they had saw. In every case .... within months .... these immigrants were already hard at work in learning the language .... had jobs (albeit mainly service jobs .... but jobs was what they had), were saving and building their bank accounts for a better apartment/car/education/etc., and were throwing everything they had to get away from government support and help .... which within a year all of these immigrants were successful at doing. I also taught English to immigrants in the late nineties (primarily from China and South Korea) .... at no cost .... and in my free time. Within a year they were speaking English .... albeit poorly .... but they were speaking it and understanding it and able to seek jobs and network their capabilities. The fact that most of these Syrian refugees (the adults) cannot AFTER ONE YEAR speak the language, are still dependent on government assistance, and are still (at least most of them ) unemployed and who are now panicking that their government assistance is going to be cut .... just boggles my mind.
12 comments:
Definitely makes one wonder. But Editor, in my city we have people from overseas who have been in Canada for DECADES and can/will not learn the language.
The Syrians I've met all speak English (many of them better than native Canadians-no joke) and are working. One just fitted me for glasses a few days ago as a matter of fact. That being said, all of them had bases of support in the community when they arrived.
As for the subjects of your complaint. They'll find their way; either in Canada or back to Syria. Canada has allowed far worse characters in.
I'd still rather help the Syrians than send one more dime to Banderastan. That's just throwing good money after bad.
I'll add that I'm willing to wager that most of these Syrians, (as I am sure most of the new comers you helped out did), will become good Canadian citizens. In fact, I'll double down and say that they'll be even better Canadians than a whole bunch of folks born here.
RRH, you can be right on your city, but you cannot generalize a specific case.
Jac,
That works both ways.
I just don't see the Syrians as a threat or a major problem. As I said, we've let in worse.
Much worse.
Where would the thousands of jobs be for these immigrants? As for English language skills, I despair as we have a Sikh postie here in Calgary who can't/won't speak the language and is additionally, totally bereft of inter-personal communication skills. Who let him in and how did he get that job at Canada Post?
Me? I came to Canada from Yurp just over 5 years ago and despite having an engineering degree and a masters in HRM, I still can't get a job, not even flipping burgers! I an white, female, over 40 and one of the 'new' middle-class professional poor. Canada is not a haven and is not the land of golden opportunities but it is at least, relatively safe with only the trigger-happy police shootings to worry about.
Signed:'A Brit broad abroad'
My spouse, an immigrant, worked McDonalds.
Why cannot these people do the same?
I would rather not let the Syrians in and not send $$$ to Banderastan
Cut aid to Pakistan, Egypt and Israel. Save 3 billion dollars.
Send that to Detroit instead.
WNU needs to have his blog post made into an editorial.
I am very disappointed that it is not.
In the U.S., there is no constitutional law requiring the use of English. Younger generations learn it since that is the best way to get ahead and to fit in because English is the language most people use. I do not know the laws of Canada on this issue.
Fred is quite right on this.
Home, work, education, among the others citizens.
Avoid ghettos.
There should be a constitutional law requiring English for government work.
It is breaking the bank to have ballots in every language of the world.
Then there is bilingual education.
A private business should use whatever language they want. At some point the Left will be against it.
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