Citizenship and Immigration Committee on June 14th, 2016

[A voice]

One.

[Joy Bowen-Eyre]

Sorry, one elementary school at 414 students, yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you.

Mr. Tabbara, I understand you're splitting your time with Mr. Chen.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Correct.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

You have two and a half minutes.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Thank you all for being here today. I appreciate all your speeches you've given to the committee today.

I've heard a lot about access to health care. I'm very proud that the interim health program was fully restored on April 1, 2016. It had been cut previously, which left many newcomers vulnerable, so I'm very happy that's been reinstated.

My first question will be for the Peel District School Board.

There have been challenges facing young Syrians who have been out of school for a long time, so the concept of school itself is very difficult for them. There are low literacy levels and they've been experiencing trauma. Can you briefly explain how you help these children make up for their lost time and deal with the trauma they've experienced?

[Zaiba Beg]

One thing I can speak to is the idea of just being in school. The orientation to school has been a big adjustment for students and they will continue to do that over the next year.

We have a framework that we have actually received from our Ministry of Education in Ontario, which is all about learning skills that children need to have for school. It's about being able to feel safe in school, and different things around co-operation and responsibility. Teachers are also being informed through professional learning sessions that we are doing of what to look for, signs of emotional distress or places where they can actually, as a teacher, intervene and help the student become more present.

We have provided schools with a series of books that allow students to, in English and Arabic, talk about their feelings, their emotions. When teachers start to notice signs that are actually beyond the scope of the work that they do, they bring it to the attention of the school team or the principal and social workers are involved.

I'm really happy with that support. We can always use more, of course.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Thank you very much.

Shaun.

[Shaun Chen, Liberal, Scarborough North, ON]

My question is for the Peel District School Board.

I know that you have a wide range of services that are provided for newcomer students through your multicultural settlement services. You work with local agencies, other school boards, and receive funding through the federal government, particularly around settlement workers in schools.

If there are issues in terms of what we've been hearing today where Syrian refugee children might face a wide range of different needs, do you feel equipped, given your expertise and the work that you've done locally on the ground, to engage with local agencies and other school boards with your provincial funder to address some of those challenges?

[Louise Clayton]

Yes, we do.

We have a very in-depth network in Peel with not only our MSEP providers but with all Peel agencies. We meet quarterly with our federal funder and our Region of Peel and other community agencies. We try to coordinate services. We feel very equipped.

Certainly, the large influx and the lack of Arabic-speaking settlement workers on the ground has made it complex for us to try to get as many families directed to services. But in terms of the coordination between agencies, I think we're very well equipped.

[Shaun Chen, Liberal, Scarborough North, ON]

It sounds like you're doing a great job.

You're also members of OPSBA and CSBA, the Canadian School Boards Association. Is that correct?

[Louise Clayton]

Yes, we are.

[Shaun Chen, Liberal, Scarborough North, ON]

Has there been any conversation at the provincial association or at the national school boards association in terms of how different school boards across the country are grappling with the Syrian refugee resettlement issue and how some of the best practices, like the great work you're doing in Peel, could be shared with other boards across the country?

[Louise Clayton]

I don't sit on that particular committee, but I do know that they happen.

I participate in a working group at the Ministry of Education. There we have different service providers and organizations and different school boards representing. Certainly, we are discussing sharing best practices and how we can meet with the resettlement of our new Syrian families.

[Zaiba Beg]

I could also add that the Ministry of Education has provided the school boards with grants. We applied for a $30,000 grant, so we were able to run some wonderful professional learning for our teachers and the school administrators. We also network with the ESL leads across the province through our assessment network and ERGO, which is a provincial organization.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you.

[Louise Clayton]

Just to conclude, we have also been asked by many other school boards for our expertise and knowledge.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

Thank you.

Ms. Kwan, you have three minutes, please.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much.

Just to follow up with the questions earlier, Ms. Allhalaq, you mentioned that resettlement services would offer to meet with Syrian refugees in the library. When you go there and the people don't know.... You can't get the resettlement workers to provide assistance. Is that correct?

[Eman Allhalaq]

No. When we meet with them, when we call them, they say to us that when we need their service, we should come and meet them at some place. When we go to the appointed place, we don't find anybody there.

In general, we don't manage to find them. The offices are very far away. They give us appointments. They say to go to the library, because the library's the closest place to us. They say, “Come and meet with us.”

Recently, when we were in a hotel there was a fire and the rescue services took the children. Sometime later, I was sent a bill for several thousand dollars for the ambulance services, $2,400. I didn't know what to do with the bill. I didn't know what the solution was.

I contacted Options Community Services and DIVERSEcity. I left a message. For three days I didn't know what to do with this bill that I had been given. Finally I asked at this school what I should do and this person said, “Give these papers to me and I'll get it sorted out for you.” There are all sorts of papers that we keep getting. We try to get in touch with the relevant services to find a solution, but we often don't get an answer. We don't get an answer.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you.

On language training, you mentioned in your presentation that you are now getting access to language training at S.U.C.C.E.S.S., but sometimes you can't make the classes because you don't have child care. Is that right?

[Eman Allhalaq]

Yes, we waited for three months to have child care services. Finally, we took some steps ourselves. For example, I go in the evening and my husband goes in the afternoon. We try to work it out between ourselves, but my husband is diabetic and he can't watch my daughter all the time. I can't leave him with this responsibility. He can't assume full responsibility for her.

There's also the problem of day care in the schools. There are health services available to us, yes, but the problem is that for the day care services you often have to wait eight or nine months. Some people are waiting for a year or a year and a half before they're able to get their children registered in the child care centres. During that time, we have to stay home and look after the children.

[The Chair, Liberal, Borys Wrzesnewskyj]

You have 10 seconds.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Even if you qualify for child subsidies, then, you can't get a spot because there are no child care spaces available.

[Eman Allhalaq]

Yes, that's exactly it.