Quebec groups aid Syrian refugees who lost sponsors

Eight months after arriving in Montreal as Syrian refugees, Dania Saad and her husband Samir Altabra continue to receive monthly cheques of $1,000 from their private sponsors.

The cash belongs to them because they paid a Christian church $12,000 to come to Canada and they are getting the money back in 12 monthly instalments.

Saad, 32, and Altabra, 47, are lucky in that they had the money and their sponsors had the foresight to ask for it upfront to ensure there were funds to help the family get through their first year in Quebec.

Many refugees, however, were sponsored by private citizens who meant well but didn’t have the means to care for them, according to several community groups interviewed by The Canadian Press.

Moreover, these groups and the Quebec government are now looking to what’s known as the “13th month” — when privately sponsored refugees become responsible for their own financial well-being.

“Some families had nothing to eat, no furniture, often not even appliances,” said Marie Bourret, coordinator with CLICS Laval, a volunteer centre that has been helping refugees integrate.

“We’ve had people come to us who had been here five months and didn’t even have a refrigerator.”

Privately sponsored refugees were not meant to be in this situation. Unlike refugees taken in by the province, who are immediately eligible for welfare, those who are privately sponsored are supposed to be under the care of their benefactors for 12 months.

Only after a year can refugees unable to find work apply for welfare.

“We had schools calling us because kids were coming in with nothing to eat, while others called and said the rent couldn’t be paid,” Bourret said.

Veronica Islas, who works with a community group in Montreal that helps refugees, said families came to her centre for help and didn’t know where their sponsors were.

The Altabras are grateful for the help they received, but they know that after the 12th month they will be alone.

Altabra works during the weekend at a burger restaurant and spends the week taking French lessons, as does his wife.

“We believe in God,” Saad said through a translator at a recent community event north of Montreal. “God helped us this far, helped us to get here. We are confident we will find jobs.”

Issam Alsamaan, 55, spent his first six months in Quebec with his brother-in-law, rent free.

He now rents an apartment with his wife and three children, aged 8 to 14. Alsamaan’s family came to Canada with US$3,000 and are receiving child allocations from the government to help pay the bills.

Refugees became permanent residents as soon as they landed and all families, whether state sponsored or privately sponsored, were immediately eligible for child-aid programs.

“I am confident I will find work as a mason,” Alsamaan said through a translator. “My kids are integrating, they are learning French and I met people who said they will help me find work as soon as I learn how to speak the language.”

After Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged during the 2015 election campaign to accept 25,000 Syrian refugees, Quebec welcomed more than 2,000 by the end of 2015.

Only 15 were state-sponsored and the rest were under the care of individual citizens or community and religious groups.

Quebec has increased its statesponsored refugee quota and as of Oct. 10, had welcomed 1,123 people. Another 3,062 Syrians were privately sponsored during the same period.

As the one-year anniversary approaches for many privately sponsored refugees, the Quebec government said it didn’t know how many had found work, or how many welfare applications it was expecting.

“We have no information on our end that tells us welfare applications will increase considerably,” said Antoine Lavoie, spokesman for Quebec’s Employment Department.

The employment figures the government does keep aren’t promising, however.

Quebec created a program to help refugees find work and Lavoie said 333 companies took part.

As of mid-October, those companies had offered 1,350 positions and only 242 spots were filled, with not all those hired being Syrians, Lavoie said. Other Syrian refugees could have found work outside government programs, but the province doesn’t track those figures.

Paul Clarke, who works for Action Réfugiés Montréal, sits on a government committee that is looking into the concept of the “13th month” and how Quebec will help refugees after their first year.

“Various groups, from a humanitarian perspective, wanted to help as many people as possible,” he said. “However, sponsoring people who are coming here as refugees is a large responsibility and it could be that some individuals and groups took on too many.”

We had schools calling us because kids were coming in with nothing to eat, while others said the rent couldn’t be paid.