WHAT’S THE HOLDUP?
Baddeck still waiting for refugee family.
A community group eager to welcome a Syrian refugee family to Baddeck is frustrated after numerous delays have stalled the process.
The Syria to Baddeck Steering Committee was formed two years ago with the goal of sponsoring and bringing a Syrian refugee family to live in the Baddeck community.
After strong community support in November 2015, the committee identified the Esmaeels as the family they wanted to sponsor. They began raising funds, along with forming health, education, employment and community engagement sub-committees needed to help the family.
In July 2016, the Esmaeels application was processed, to which the committee initially believed would take 12-19 months until the family would be approved and allowed to enter Canada.
In May, the committee’s application to sponsor the family was approved by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and later forwarded to the Canadian Embassy in Amman, Jordan, with only security checks and medical screenings holding the family back from receiving their Canadian Permanent Residency cards.
The committee began working with the initial thought the family would arrive in Baddeck on Sept. 1, but that wasn’t the case.
Earlier this month, the committee requested a timeline update on the arrival of the family, only to be told by the IRCC that the arrival could take another 19 months due to a backlog in the private sponsorship refugee program.
Donnell Beaton, a member of the Syria to Baddeck Steering Committee, said the process has been frustrating.
“It’s frustration for the committee and for our community because we’re prepared for this family and we’ve gone through everything that we’re supposed
to do,” he said. “We’ve already been told a couple of times that these people were on their way — Baddeck is frustrated, we want answers.”
According to Beaton, the family, consisting of a father, mother and four children (two boys and two girls), is currently living in a safe refugee camp in Irbid, Jordan, which houses several thousand Syrian refugees.
Throughout the process, the committee was able to raise $40,000 to help the family for one year. The committee also received donations of furniture to help the family settle.
“Everything is ready for them, furniture has been found, many household utensils and an accommodation has been found, but of course you can’t expect a prospective landlord to hold a house or unit for these people,” said Beaton.
“The group’s responsibility is to keep these people for one year and we’re hoping that at that time these people can become self-sufficient and not be an expense after that.”
The committee doesn’t know much about the family itself, however the Esmaeels do have extended family in Halifax and the committee has been in touch with them.
“We don’t know what they’re trained
for, but we’re hoping that there will be some sense of direction for the parents to be able to take on in the Village of Baddeck.”
Sydney-Victoria MP Mark Eyking is aware of the frustration and the situation involving the Baddeck committee.
“I think we have a couple of (Syrian) families now in Cape Breton that got into the first allotment,” said Eyking. “The situation that we have is that the Baddeck group are waiting for the second allotment, which is very unfortunate because that family is waiting to
come here and we want them to come here.”
Ekying said he plans to speak with the Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen over the next two days to explain the situation and to see if there’s any way to move the process along more quickly.
The committee plans to hold a meeting in November to update the community on the process and to hear feedback from residents on possible next steps.
For now, the committee is encouraging the community to voice its concerns about the delay with Eyking’s office.