I have something to add since you asked about useful practices or positive experiences.
Communities have really come together. Whole parishes, towns and families have joined forces to help Syrian refugees. Only St. Boniface has French-language centres to assist Syrian refugees with settlement. Unfortunately, in many cases, all the families and communities who have rallied together haven't had an easy time accessing referrals, whether family- or school-related, or employment assistance. That kind of thing has been very difficult.
It's a shame, but we have often had to rely on English-language services. The Syrian refugees are often referred to English-language services because our communities are very deficient in that kind of support. We told Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship officials that we were counting on their leadership, in terms of asking English-language settlement service providers to refer any Syrian refugees who may wish to learn French back to the French-language service providers in our communities.