Pilot project to integrate refugee families in Chatham

One small Southwestern Ontario centre has laid out the welcome mat for five refugee families seeking asylum.

After voicing an interest this summer to help as part of a federal government pilot project, Chatham-Kent announced that the refugee families have arrived in the city and will now be assessed by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada to determine their eligibility to remain in Canada. It’s one of the final steps in the process for the families to officially be granted asylum.

April Rietdyk, Chatham-Kent’s general manager for community human services, said the municipality has been working closely with the federal government to ensure a smooth transition for the five families.

“Their morale is very good. They ’re so thankful,” said Rietdyk, who had an opportunity to meet with the families recently. “(They) certainly saw the countryside and are quite amazed.

“The children are asking why there’s no snow here,” she added with a laugh. “They thought it was going to be cold.”

The federal government has booked rooms for the families in a hotel for the next eight weeks to avoid any unintended effect on emergency-housing capacity while the families work to find longerterm housing in the community. Due to privacy concerns, Rietdyk would only say the families were from various countries in the Middle East and Africa, and had arrived at the border predominantly in Quebec. She said the number of families is relatively small — as part of the pilot project — so the municipality and federal government can learn what works best when settling families into smaller communities.

The five families arriving in Chatham-Kent indicated at the border their intention to live in Ontario, and chose the Southwestern Ontario community as the preferred place to settle with their children. The federal government committed $11 million provincewide to help communities deal with asylum seekers as part of a $50-million national fund announced in June. Toronto Mayor John Tory also made an appeal in the summer for help housing some of his city’s most vulnerable new residents — an appeal that met with some reluctance in London and Windsor, where officials cited a lack of available shelter space. Despite the significant change in culture, Rietdyk said the children were already getting used to their new surroundings. “They’re just typical kids. They want to know what the Wi-Fi passwords are,” she said. “Those kinds of things.”

Adult Language and Learning, Chatham-Kent’s settlement service provider, will offer supports to the families, including help with access to the community services available in the municipality. Chatham-Kent Mayor Randy Hope said the pilot project will allow the municipality to be strategic and determine the next steps. He said rural communities could benefit by following suit, noting that asylum seekers want to be productive members of society. “This could be a trendsetter,” he said. “We’ve got willing partners out there.”