City received 350 Syrian refugees in 2016, 2017

Peterborough received 350 Syrian refugees in 2016 and 2017, said the executive director of the New Canadians Centre.

Hajni Hos updated city councillors on the recent resettlement of refugees in the city at a meeting on Monday night at City Hall.

The effort is far from over, Hos told councillors: Peterborough can expect to receive a further 75 refugees in 2018.

Not all will come from Syria: Hos said three families from Eritrea arrived in January, for example.

“Many individuals arrive with no or little English,” she said, which means a great need for translation services.

The average Syrian family in Peterborough has four to six children, Hos said; half the Syrians who’ve arrived in the last two years have been children.

Often at least one person in the family has a health issue and needs medical care, Hos said, and often the newcomers need dental care.

Many refugees have jobs in Peterborough, Hos told councillors, particularly men: about 35 per cent of refugee men are employed in the city, she said (the national average is 10 per cent).

Now that Peterborough has been receiving refugees for more than two years, Hos said, many of them are already volunteering to help resettle Syrians as they arrive.

“Refugees are now themselves helping new refugees,” she said.

Meanwhile there has been hate against some families in Peterborough.

Hos said there has been an increased number of hate incidents reported by newcomer families - although she doesn’t know why.

Yet Hos said more than 600 volunteers who came forward to help re-settle and welcome people.

“Families do feel safe here,” she said.

“We need to focus always on the positives.”