QUEBEC OPENS ARMS TO REFUGEES
WE ARE READY TO WELCOME REFUGEES INTO OUR HOMES. WE ARE READY TO VOLUNTEER.
The recent debates over the Parti Québécois charter of values and the “reasonable accommodation” of immigrants exposed a suspicion of Muslims in Quebec’s outlying regions.
But as the province prepares to accept 7,300 Syrian refugees this year and next, its regions are stepping forward with open arms.
“What I am seeing here in Victoriaville for the last two weeks is many of my fellow citizens calling and saying, ‘We are ready to welcome refugees into our homes. We are ready to volunteer. We are ready to provide apartments. We are ready to donate money so these people get a proper welcome and are well-integrated,’” said Patrick Paulin, a municipal councillor and chairman of a regional immigration committee.
The Quebec government detailed its plans Wednesday to take in 3,650 Syrian refugees by Dec. 31 and another 3,650 next year — for a total of nearly 30 per cent of the 25,000 Syrian refugees whom Ottawa has said will be admitted to Canada. In Quebec, the large majority will be headed for metropolitan Montreal, but 13 cities have been identified as destinations.
“Once again, Quebec is demonstrating its openness and expertise to welcome people who for too long have been living in extremely risky conditions,” Immigration Minister Kathleen Weil told a news conference in Quebec City. The province is budgeting $29 million for the operation for the current year.
Other provinces have been slower to step forward with their plans. The Ontario government is not saying yet how many refugees the province will receive, when they will arrive or in which communities they will settle.
British Columbia Premier Christy Clark said Wednesday the province is ready to welcome 3,500 Syrian refugees but still needs to work out funding details with the federal government.
Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger said he has informed the federal government that the province will need help once the refugees begin to arrive.
“Accommodations — this is a challenge, everywhere — housing, and how much they’re going to provide for rents, because in some circumstances the rents are going to be prohibitive,” Selinger said.
In Quebec, such smaller cities as Victoriaville, Drummondville, Granby and Trois-Rivières see the refugees as a gain for regions facing labour shortages in the coming years.
“What really interests us is the integration of these people so they can make a comfortable life here and contribute to our community,” Paulin said. “We have to integrate them and keep them here. We do not want these people to leave for Toronto or Montreal.”
He said the province has advised Victoriaville, population 46,000, to expect about 50 Syrians, but it could easily handle double that number.
Caroline St-Hilaire, the mayor of Longueuil, said most Quebec cities are prepared to accept more refugees than they are being offered. “There has been a surge of generosity,” she said.
Trois-Rivières, which is preparing for between 70 and 100 refugees, had initially expressed some reluctance. City spokesman Yvan Toutant said the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris and the unfounded rumours that refugees were responsible prompted fears among Trois-Rivières residents about the pending Syrian arrivals. The city’s mayor shared those fears last week in a phone call with federal Immigration and Refugees Minister John McCallum, Toutant said.
But since the federal government on Tuesday extended the deadline for bringing in 25,000 refugees until the end of February 2016 and gave assurances that thorough security checks would be conducted, the attitude has changed.
“Where I was seeing fear in the population last week, now I am seeing more people ready to welcome them,” Toutant said. “Since Tuesday we have been receiving a lot of calls here from people who say, ‘I might have an apartment available.’ That was not what people were saying a week earlier.”
Trois-Rivières is just 40 kilometres from the town of Hérouxville, which in 2007 put itself on the map with a code of values targeting Muslims. Among other things, the code declared that stoning and covered faces would not be tolerated. Toutant said Hérouxville does not represent the region. “We welcomed about 30 Muslim immigrants last year,” he said. “They are people who have integrated well.”
In Victoriaville, Paulin said that when people are informed, their fears disappear. “These people, these refugees, their lives were in danger,” he said. “We have to see the human being and not our fear.”
THESE PEOPLE, THESE REFUGEES, THEIR LIVES WERE IN DANGER. WE HAVE TO SEE THE HUMAN BEING AND NOT OUR FEAR. — PATRICK PAULIN, VICTORIAVILLE COUNCILLOR