A year of welcome and worries for refugees
Next challenge for 290 Syrians resettled in capital region is the end of Ottawa’s financial support
Mohammad Al-Seabi is a world away from the barrel bombs that have destroyed his country and killed hundreds of thousands of Syrians, but he still lies awake at night with worry.
He worries about when his English will be good enough for him to get a job to support his family. He worries about whether his children feel left out at school because they can’t fully communicate with their classmates.
Al-Seabi is one of 290 Syrian refugees in Greater Victoria. At the end of their first year in Canada, these refugees are still adjusting to life here — and facing the end of the 12 months of financial assistance provided by the federal government.
Al-Seabi lives in Langford with his wife, Neamaat AlHmed, and their four children — 13-year-old Bissan, 11-year-old Amer, 10-year-old Tamer and one-year-old Hala, who was born in Jordan just before the family came to Canada.
The 40-year-old, who has worked in carpentry for 25 years, has been going to workshops in the West Shore, trying to forge contacts. He does this with the help of Susan Porter Jacobs, a Langford woman who was paired with the family through the Inter-Cultural Association’s community connections volunteer program.
“She’s assisted me with so many things, she showed me around, how to see Langford,” Al-Seabi said through a translator. “If it wasn’t for her, I would have not figured out many things.”
Porter Jacobs said she thought her role would be largely social, getting together for dinner or walks in the neighbourhood. Instead, she’s been helping the family complete practical tasks that are difficult due to the language barrier.
“They’re very focused on getting established, it consumes most of their time,” Porter Jacobs said. “So our time together has been figuring out how to get dental services, signing his kids up for a soccer team, getting a bike repaired, getting passport photos.”
Amer and Tamer play on the same team in the Juan de Fuca Soccer Association. Porter Jacobs said she’s impressed at how quickly the three older children are learning English.
Porter Jacobs said she became interested in sponsoring a Syrian refugee family in September 2015 after she saw a photo of three-year-old Alan Kurdi, who drowned as his family tried to cross the Mediterranean from Turkey to Greece. That image led people around the world to pressure governments to welcome more Syrian refugees.
Porter Jacobs, an accountant, put together a team of sponsors that includes an individual with subsidized housing experience and another linked to employment services. The group has raised $45,000 and is sponsoring a family that is waiting in Turkey.
Through her involvement in the sponsorship program, Porter Jacobs heard that governmentsponsored refugees needed support, so she signed up for the community connections program.
“They were very much on their own,” Porter Jacobs said.
Refugees can come to Canada through private sponsorship, in which a community group must raise enough money to support the family financially, or through federal government sponsorship.
Jean McRae, the ICA’s executive director, said privately sponsored refugees have a much wider social support network than government-sponsored refugees, as private sponsorship groups often consist of a dozen or more people.
Those on federal government assistance receive money to get started as well as monthly support. A family of four in Victoria receives a start-up payment of $5,440 and $1,349 a month for a year.
When federal funding expires, families who fit the financial criteria can get provincial social assistance. Settlement workers help with applications to the Ministry of Social Development.
Refugee families are also eligible for the monthly Canada Child Benefit payment after their first year here.
Winnie Lee, ICA’s director of operations, said refugees can continue to access settlement support services, including language classes, job services and child care.
“There’s been some worry that they can’t get access to services after the 12 months,” Lee said. “We’re here to provide support to refugees and newcomers regardless of what their income support is.”
Another refugee, Sanaa, declined to give her last name for fear of repercussions against family still in Syria.
Sanaa spent most of her career teaching children English in her hometown of Homs, but after three years of war and devastation, she fled to Jordan and then Cairo before being resettled to Canada in April.
Now she is learning English herself through classes at the University of Victoria. She has just completed a certificate in early childhood education and wants to continue working with children.
“Here is for me a new start for life, for future,” Sanaa said.
Sanaa has a warm smile and a bubbly personality, which is why it’s no surprise she meets people and makes friends all the time.
“I feel myself part of this community,” she said. “I always talk to everyone. I like everybody here, they like me.”
Sanaa met Susana, her community connections volunteer, in May, and the two have become close friends. They spent Canada Day together and were part of the living flag at the legislature.
Sanaa said when she Skypes her mother, father and brother in Homs, they ask where Susana is.
“Because if Susana is with me, I will be happy, I will be good,” she said.
Sanaa is confident she will be able to find a job, but still worries about whether she’ll be able to support herself.
“Now I think I can find a job, but I’m not sure if I can get a good income to rent a house,” she said. “I’m not sure if my income will be enough to cover all my payments, like rent, food, you know. That’s what makes me always stressed.”
Sanaa credits the ICA, specifically Lee, for encouragement and emotional support.
“She tells me: ‘Sanaa you are
REFUGEES’ WISH LIST
More than a dozen refugee families have been able to share their personal story and a holiday wish list on the website of a non-profit organization that connects people in need with people willing to donate. Refugee Partners is a new spin-off this year of the Homeless Partners initiative, which allows people to donate the exact items refugees or the homeless are in need of. Daniel Keeran, the programs co-founder, said many Syrian families are asking for new clothes, household items such as pots and pans, soccer balls and athletic equipment for their kids and others are looking for job opportunities, listing their skills in the hope an employer will take them on. “When people experience the personal story of an individual, they bond with them and want to provide a gift that they’ve requested,” Keeran said. Keeran is still looking for pledges before Christmas. A total of 165 gifts have been requested and 44 have been pledged. “We still have 120 to go.” To donate, go to refugeepartners.com strong, you are amazing girl, you can do whatever you want, you can be independent.’ ”