Integrating remains a challenge for Syrian influx

• More than a year after landing in Canada, many Syrian refugees are still having trouble integrating, according to government data and researchers who have studied the issue.

In comparison to government- sponsored refugees, privately sponsored newcomers tend to fare much better in the short term in language acquisition and job integration, Dawn Edlund of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said Thursday.

She said that while more than half of the privately sponsored Syrian refugees who arrived before March, 2016, have found work, only 10 per cent of governmentsponsored refugees have done so.

“The integration journey that people are on has various aspects to it, and Syrian refugees, whether privately sponsored or governmentsponsored, are on that exact same pathway,” she told The Canadian Press. “I don’t know if I identify that as a gap. It’s a similar pathway that we’ve seen resettled refugees travel before.”

Edlund was among the first presenters at a multiday conference in Montreal that is bringing together speakers from academia, government and social-services organizations to discuss how best to integrate newcomers over the long term.

Part of the reason for the discrepancy is the fact government-sponsored refugees tend to arrive with a lower level of education and knowledge of English or French, Edlund said. In addition, many privately sponsored refugees benefit from the support of friends and family already in Canada, she said.

“They come into a support network around them that is already strong, already has people who are living in Canada who have employment contacts,” she said.