Syrian refugees in Canada face uncertainty as federal assistance to end

Volunteers working for the Syrian refugees said not all of the settlers have got jobs in Canada.

According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 22,009 government-supported Syrian refugees moved to the country between Nov. 4, 2015 and Nov. 20, 2016, media reports said.

According to a CTVNEWS report, the one year financial support which the federal government had promised to these government-supported Syrian refugees would soon be cut off.

However, statistics show that only about 10 percent of refugees find employment in their first year in Canada and many are still struggling to become independent.

Mohamad Bakhash, who arrived in Canada a year ago and is still struggling to become independent including learning the language and finding a job, said: “There was a lot of help we got from the government but, as well, we had a lot of things that we were trying to do but we were struggling with.”

In Syria, Bakhash supported his family of seven as a real estate agent.

According to Sam Jisri, the executive director of Syrian Active Volunteers, about half of the roughly 5,200 refugees who have settled in the Greater Toronto Area have been able to find work, reported CBC News.

He said he is concerned about the old refugees in particular.

In Canada, lack of the language skills to find work had left his family to rely on government assistance -- potentially for years to come.

Having availed of the federal government financial support for a promised period of one year, the Syrian refugees who enter into the 13th month of their stay in Canada, are required to apply for provincial social assistance.

For the Bakhash family, that amounts to about $1,700 each month.

About 800 of the Syrian refugees are now living in Manitoba. Some have found work in restaurants and in the agricultural sector.

For those who have been in Canada for more than a year, that responsibility now falls to the province.

“It comes at a cost -- there’s no two ways about that,” Ian Wishart, Manitoba’s Minister of Education and Training, told CTV News.

“The longer they’re on income assistance, you know, it’s not good from a provincial economics point of view,” Wishart said. “It’s not good for their families either, but they have to be ready to go to the workplace.”

And the federal government will continue to assist them, Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship John McCallum says.

“The language training goes on, the preparation for jobs goes on,” McCallum told CTV News. “The only thing that is transferred to provincial responsibility is the income support.”

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)

Image: Islamic Relief Canada