How Ottawa is preparing for the influx
Settlement, health and social agencies around town are furiously making plans to help Syrian refugees when they arrive in Ottawa. The newcomers will need advice on everything from finding a doctor to renting an apartment and enrolling their kids in school.
Officials are excited, and a little apprehensive, although how Ottawa handles the challenge depends partly on some key questions that haven’t yet been answered:
How many refugees will arrive, and when?
Will they be housed in military bases for a while at first, then come to Ottawa later?
Will they arrive in a trickle, or a flood?
Officials are also watching warily to see whether the terrorist attacks in Paris will sway some people’s desire to roll out the welcome mat.
“It … will perhaps challenge the resolve of some people to support the genuine refugees,” said Leslie Emory, executive director of the Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization.
“But I think it’s important that we work to distinguish the two. There are genuine refugees in desperate need of help, and we need to ensure that we don’t allow these terrorist acts to sideline our efforts to help them. Our security measures need to be robust and comprehensive, there’s no question, but to abandon them or to get into xenophobic dialogue, isn’t that exactly what the extremists groups would like us to do?”
The Liberal government has promised to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada before the end of the year.
If the target is met, Ottawa can expect to receive 1,200 to 3,000 refugees over the next few weeks, in the best guess of local officials. The capital normally welcomes about 500 refugees, sponsored by both the government and private groups, over the course of a year.
“We just don’t know what we’re really going to be dealing with,” said Dr. Doug Gruner, a doctor at the Bruyère Family Medicine Centre who is on a committee coordinating medical services for the Syrian refugees. “That’s obviously the challenge for us.”
Ottawa has a well-developed network of services for refugees. Officials are confident that with planning and the surge of goodwill among Ottawans eager to help, we’ll cope well. But they are also counting on the federal and provincial governments to provide more money for settlement workers, language teachers and mentalhealth counsellors. Many of the refugees are expected to arrive traumatized after escaping war and life in squalid refugee camps or makeshift housing.
“It’s a pretty straightforward connection,” says Carl Nicholson, the executive director of the Catholic Centre for Immigrants. “The key is, we are going to need more money. … If you’re going to ask me to do more, I would love it, and we have the potential, but somebody will have to pay up.”
Here’s a snapshot of what agencies are doing to get ready.
HEALTH CARE
Five to seven health centres will be designated where doctors and nurses will conduct health screenings. Refugees will get a general checkup and blood tests for conditions such as anemia, vitamin D deficiency and infectious diseases, Gruner said. Doctors will make sure vaccinations are up to date, treat any immediate problems, and provide advice on how newcomers can find a family doctor. Refugees will already have been screened before they enter Canada for tuberculosis, HIV and other conditions that could present a public health problem, he said.
Providing the services should not be difficult, said Jack McCarthy, executive director of the Somerset West Community Health Centre, which will be one of the refugee hubs. Nurses and doctors are “stepping up and saying, ‘How can I help?’ ” he said. A health centre in Smiths Falls offered to send nurses, and a retired nurse also volunteered.
An electronic consultation service that allows family doctors to ask questions of specialists has been expanded to include a roster of physicians who are experts on refugee health care.
MENTAL HEALTH
The biggest challenge will be helping refugees with mentalhealth problems, say health officials. The newcomers have experienced war, violence and chaos, and some narrowly escaped with their lives.
“Nobody is prepared to deal with large numbers of people coming in with post-traumatic stress,” said Mark Zarecki, executive director of Jewish Family Services of Ottawa. “My suspicion is that a high proportion of refugees coming, 80 or 90 per cent, will be suffering from that.”
There is already a shortage of counsellors who specialize in PTSD. More will be needed who speak Arabic, or translators must be trained, although it can be awkward for interpreters to be included during therapy, said Siffan Rahman, co-ordinator for three health programs for newcomers operated by the Somerset West Community Health Centre.
Sometimes problems don’t emerge until after the “honeymoon” period, Gruner said.
“People are so excited about being in Canada, so focused on the here and now with respect to getting their kids into school and finding a job, finding housing, that a lot of times the mental-health stuff kind of falls into the background. As the dust settles, six months, eight months, 12 months down the road, then the issues around PTSD and other issues around mental health become more prevalent.”
Zarecki said he has asked the province to fund five counsellors who specialize in PTSD for Ottawa settlement agencies. “They are looking at it.”
HOUSING
Government-sponsored refugees now go to a reception house in the ByWard Market run by the Catholic Centre for Immigrants. They usually stay three or four weeks, and receive basic orientation to their new country. But there’s only room for about 100 people there, Nicholson said. Some of the Syrian refugees may initially be housed at military bases when they arrive in Canada.
Nicholson says he’s scouting potential buildings in Ottawa that could be used for temporary housing. His agency is also contacting landlords it has dealt with before to see what might be available. Nicholson hopes there will be a campaign to ask the public and landlords to pitch in.
“We know there’s lots of people who want to help. We’re going to ask you: ‘Do you have a basement apartment? Maybe you go south for a few months and have a house ....’ ”
There are hundreds of vacant condos downtown, he says. Perhaps investors could be persuaded to offer them for free or for a nominal rent.
Federal officials have said military bases might be used, and Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins says the province is considering using recently decommissioned hospitals to temporarily house Syrian refugees. The province has committed to take in 10,000 refugees by the end of next year, and Hoskins says Ontario might also need to take in and support some refugees on an interim basis before they move to other provinces or territories.
LEGAL AID
Ottawa lawyers created a program in September to offer free legal help for private groups that are sponsoring refugees. More than 100 Ottawa lawyers have signed up, and the program has now expanded across Canada.
SETTLEMENT OFFICERS, INTERPRETERS AND LANGUAGE TEACHERS
About 11 settlement and social service agencies in Ottawa provide a wide range of services for refugees, from basic advice on life in Ottawa — how the buses work, where to find a doctor, how to fill out government forms — to English lessons and counsellors at schools to help kids adjust.
But those services are running at capacity, and some budgets have been cut in recent years.
At the school run by the Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization on Bank Street, for example, 164 newcomers learn English while children play in a daycare. The school is full, manager Laurie Fraser said. The agency used to run three schools, but budgets were cut in the last six years or so.
Zarecki said the federal government will need to increase funding for such services, but not drastically. “We are talking about adding 10 or 12 employees to all the agencies in Ottawa. It’s not a big deal. It’s not like there will be 1,000 people suddenly showing up in an emergency room, needing cardiac resuscitation.”
Like others working with refugees, he emphasizes the opportunity, not the problems.
“It’s going to enrich Ottawa. People are going to be coming in with diverse cultures and values. Initially, there may be some shock, but long-term it’s going to enrich our culture and society. Remember, I’m a Jew, and we’re talking about Syrian Muslims. And I’m recognizing it’s really a good thing for us, for the city and the country.”
Initially, there may be some shock, but long-term it’s going to enrich our culture and society. Remember, I’m a Jew, and we’re talking about Syrian Muslims. MARK ZARECKI, executive director of Jewish Family Services of Ottawa