Evidence of meeting #29 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was families.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Director, Language, Settlement and Social Services, University Settlement
Unfortunately, I cannot give you an exact answer to that now. I don't know.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
No problem. If you happen to have that information at a later time, and you could submit it to the committee. That would be great. We've been hearing that across the board in other communities as well, that it's a major challenge for people.
In some communities they've mentioned the challenge of having classes that are more focused on addressing the women and their needs. Have you come across those challenges in your community as well?
Director, Language, Settlement and Social Services, University Settlement
Not specifically to this point, but considering the backgrounds and also the ethnic backgrounds, I know that there are some drawbacks with having inclusive programs. There are also so many new things for women here that it's totally different for them. I know they are willing to learn more, but the language barrier is a huge barrier for them. That's why I think we need more customized programs for women. This is something that I can talk about specifically with the issues, but I know that the women definitely need more customized programs when considering their backgrounds.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
To the two brothers, you mentioned that when you first arrived you were at a hotel in, I believe you said, Toronto, and then later on at the Welcome House. In total you waited for about 90 days before you were settled into some sort of permanent housing. Even at that, it was difficult to secure housing.
Can you give us an understanding of your family size, and for the other seven families that you mentioned who were with you along the journey, what kind of family sizes are we talking about? The interesting point that you raised is the difficulties that also face couple and perhaps people with smaller family sizes too.
As an Individual
The first problem is that Kitchener is a smaller city, and it received more than 400 families. That put a lot of pressure on the resources and where we could find find permanent housing. Second, the companies that lease the houses, when they look at the families and they see many children, they don't lease the property because they're worried about the furniture and the house itself.
My family has six members, but some families in Kitchener have eight members, with six children plus the parents. When you have a bigger number, you find that it's a bigger challenge to locate successfully a residence. There is so much pressure in Kitchener because there are so many families. There were about 400 families in total, with a total of 1,000 people, so this is what has put a lot of pressure on the resources. Add to this the increased cost of rent.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
I think you said your rent is $1,500 a month. What is your monthly income?
As an Individual
Well, the problem is that a husband and a wife take $1,400. I receive $760, my brother receives $760, and the payments for children under 18 has not been given yet. From the time we arrived in Canada until today, we have both worked to supplement the income. The payments for my sisters have not been disbursed.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Borys Wrzesnewskyj
Mrs. Zahid, I understand you'll be sharing your time with Mr. Ehsassi.
Liberal
Salma Zahid Liberal Scarborough Centre, ON
Yes, that's correct. Thank you, Chair.
I want to take this opportunity to thank all the witnesses for providing their important testimony. I want to welcome both of the brothers, Mustafa Mousa and Abdulbari Hajmusa, to Canada. Welcome to the Canadian family.
My question is for Ms. Azad.
First of all, thank you for the work you are doing with this organization. We know that teenagers find it more difficult than younger children to adapt to their new community and Canada, because of their age and more advanced stage of development and academic skills.
What do you find to be the best practices in serving the teenage group you are dealing with at your organization?
Director, Language, Settlement and Social Services, University Settlement
In the summertime, we received a huge group of Syrian refugees, over 30 teenagers, who were attending our swimming pools program. It has been very successful. We felt that a recreational program that didn't involve specific language or English proficiency, doing something fun, where they could play together and feel a sense of belonging, was very helpful and very encouraging.
At the end, we realized that the refugee kids started to develop friendships with Canadians kids. A bond has been developed among them, which shows us how easily they can do that. They can learn from each other, and the friendship. Also, the friendly environment at our agency has been very helpful. Again, the recreational program has been a very successful starting point to get connected to the families.
Liberal
Salma Zahid Liberal Scarborough Centre, ON
Thank you.
During this summer, I had the opportunity of attending a newcomers' youth forum in Scarborough. It was an eye-opener for me. I saw many newcomers helping the new Syrian refugee families as mentors.
In your community and the organization you are working for, do you find such examples where the teenagers have taken the responsibility of mentoring the newcomers?
Director, Language, Settlement and Social Services, University Settlement
Yes. We had some early university students from the community who spent a lot of time helping Syrian refugees. It has been a very successful experience for us. We never thought it was going to come out like that. They were very young—18 or 19 years old. They went to the reception centres and started to support and help the families, working with the teenagers. It has been very, very positive feedback that we have received from the Syrian refugees.
Liberal
Salma Zahid Liberal Scarborough Centre, ON
I have a last quick question.
Are the needs of these Syrian teenagers different from the other newcomer teenagers of that same age and other refugees?
Director, Language, Settlement and Social Services, University Settlement
Definitely, yes, because they are coming from a trauma background and they are more reserved. They have been faced with huge challenges in their past lives, being in the war and facing all those things. Helping them to develop a sense of security and feeling safe in the community takes longer, and we need to work harder to develop that feeling among them.
So definitely, yes. I feel it's different.
Liberal
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I will start with the Hajmusa brothers. Welcome to Canada. I also want to applaud you for all the hard work you're doing by going to classes in the morning and then working in the evening. It's inspiring, indeed.
I was wondering if you could share with us the experiences that you have drawn on, and those of others that you know from within your community, as to obtaining work. What has that been like? What are the best practices? What seems to have worked and what hasn't?
As an Individual
When it comes to obtaining work successfully, there is a centre in Kitchener called the Working Centre. It helps newcomers with job searches. For those newcomers among the Syrian refugees, there are Canadians who come and befriend them. Those Canadians have become family friends, and they share their own experiences with the newcomer refugee Syrian families when it comes to looking for jobs, or when it comes to day-to-day living. This has been very helpful, also. We obtained work through a Canada family friend who started looking for work opportunities on our behalf and helped us to locate jobs.
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
If I could just make a suggestion to Abdulbari, given that you're very focused as to what your long-term plans will be, I would suggest that you approach police stations in the Waterloo area, because I wouldn't be surprised if they would be interested in providing a mentorship program. That would obviously be very helpful, if possible.
My next question is for Ms. Miedema from the Compass Church. First of all, I want to thank you for your compassion and commitment. Second, I want to say, as you can appreciate, that the principle guiding the decisions on where people are welcome from at this particular juncture is who is the most vulnerable. I'm sure you will be happy to hear that insofar as government sponsored refugees are concerned, apart from Syrians, there are four countries that the government is currently focusing on: Colombia, Congo, Turkey, and Eritrea.
I just wanted to provide you with that assurance. The Canadian government is quite sensitive to the challenges that are currently going on in Eritrea.
Refugee Sponsorship Chair, Compass Community Church
Thank you. I appreciate that.
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
Okay, if I could now ask Mrs. Azad a question.
I'm sure you have experience in dealing with various agencies that provide employment opportunities or skilled development opportunities. Could you highlight for us what you have found to be the most useful programs in the Toronto region, in five seconds or less?
Director, Language, Settlement and Social Services, University Settlement
Okay. What I have noticed, as I said at the beginning of my speech, is that the privately sponsored refugees—and here I would like to refer more to the Iranian ones—have been very successful in obtaining employment. Surprisingly to me, they have been able to find employment related to their backgrounds. They have been working in other countries—