Vaughan organization playing key role in refugee settlement
Yorkregion.com
Dec. 18, 2015
By Adam Martin-Robbins
While the arrival of planeloads of government-sponsored Syrian refugees the last two weeks garnered loads of media attention, a Vaughan-based organization has been quietly helping dozens of people who fled their war-torn homeland settle in Canada for the past few months.
Humanity First Canada, a humanitarian relief organization headquartered in Concord, plans to bring more than 300 Syrian refugees to Canada by the end of 2016.
To date, the organization has helped resettle 60 refugees, with another 50 expected to arrive over the next month.
“They (the Syrian refugees) are extremely happy and pleased with the response,” Humanity First Canada chairperson Dr. Aslam Daud said. “They are full of gratitude that they’ve received a warm welcome by Humanity First, by the Canadian population.”
The refugees have come, primarily, from camps in Jordan and Turkey, but some are arriving here from Egypt and other parts of Africa.
“When we saw the Syrian refugee crisis and that there was a large population going into refugee camps, we started working in those camps back about a year-and-a-half ago, in late 2013” Daud said. “We started helping out in the camps by providing emergency supplies and also, in Jordan, we started a school for children who were living in the camps. From there, we started requests for sponsorships. As we were already sponsoring, at that time, refugees from other parts of the world, we started working on a few cases. The word got out and a lot of more refugees came (to us).”
The number of people seeking sponsorship quickly grew from 50 to more than 300, he added.
The first refugees sponsored by Humanity First Canada arrived in June, with a few more arriving in August and into the fall, Daud said. But the numbers really ramped up in December with new refugees arriving every week.
To help them get settled as quickly as possible, the organization holds weekly orientation sessions, on Sundays.
“We tell them about what to expect from Canada, what the new life in Canada is like, how to go about doing various things and what Canada expects from them - what are their rights and privileges as well as their obligations to the country,” he said.
The refugees also learn about the education system, Canadian currency and how to access health care and employment opportunities, he added.
Humanity First has been helping refugees get settled in communities throughout the GTA.
Finding accommodations, furnishings, housewares and clothing hasn’t proven too difficult, Daud said, but the language barrier can be challenging.
A concerted effort is being made to get refugees who don’t speak English into language training programs, he said.
The other major challenge is finding appropriate employment.
“They are very thankful that we have done something and they want to be on their feet as soon as possible,” Daud said.
So far, the organization has been successful in finding work for those who arrived in June through September, he said.
