The Refugees are Coming… Are we ready?
Less than three weeks ago there was a collective exhale by Canadians as election results began to roll in from coast to coast to coast. It felt like a shrugging off of an old, too heavy winter coat as warm spring weather arrived. There was a sense of renewal; of possibilities. Almost a month since that fateful election night and the sense of optimism, of renewal, of change is still in the air.
There have been some early discordant notes sounded – a few. Probably the one discussed in social media and in communities the most, is the image of the newly-minted Prime Minister introducing his Cabinet and remarking to the world that this group for the first time represented Canada.
This bold statement was quickly met with derision as pundits and activists and ordinary Jelanis of African-Canadian heritage pointed out the glaring absence from the picture of Blacks/Africans, or culturally even an MP from the Caribbean; this in a caucus with an unprecedented number of African-Canadian Members of Parliament (at least 5). Quickly there were OpEds in community newspapers and one or two mainstream ones of the continuing erasures of Blackness from the Canadian narrative, a charge yet to be adequately addressed by those charged with educating our children or drafting public policies and programs that impact on all of our lives.
But other Black voices joined the debate and made the point that while the absence must be noted and the opportunity to raise the issue of Black invisibility in the Body politic discussed and critiqued, it was more important at this political juncture to hold the government to account going forward for the kind of social and economic policies it plans to bring forward, everything from Immigration and Refugee resettlement to income security policies.
Not surprisingly the Syrian Refugee crisis continues to dominate the first weeks of the government's mandate. The unleashing of the generous Canadian spirit continues unabated and the government has kept the issue front and centre as it scrambles to meet its commitment of resettling twenty-five thousand refugees by the end of the year. We applaud this commitment and the efforts to date but time is moving apace, and decisions must be made. Now.
Giving credit where it's due, the Ontario government has seized on this issue and is putting its resources where its mouth is. The Province through the Ministry of Citizenship, Immigration and International Trade (MCIIT) has been champing at the bit to move ahead, and they're doing just that. Working with the NGO and immigrant and refugee service sectors, Ontario is readying itself to ensure that the existing service infrastructure is prepared to hit the ground running once the first government and privately sponsored families and individuals begin to arrive. Funds from their commitment of $8.5m over two and half years, will be committed to service agencies before the end of the year, and by working with OCASI and the Ontario Region branch of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) they will have a comprehensive understanding of our service ecosystem across the province through the results of a mapping environmental scan we plan to undertake within the next few weeks.
OCASI members, especially those serving the Syrian and other Arabic and Kurdish speaking communities, are inundated with information requests and need immediate resources to scale up staffing to manage information flow and support for communities – sponsors and families of those caught in the war arena. These resources are coming soon from the province and we hope that as decisions are made in Ottawa, we will also get answers about when and how and to whom resources will begin to flow. Many Sponsorship Agreement Holders are also overwhelmed with requests for support in private sponsorships of Groups of 5 and need additional staffing to manage the workload.
There's also a need for information about the service sector and available services, from language training to employment placements that we must educate the Canadian public and Refugee communities about. The City of Toronto and other municipalities in partnership with their NGO partners like OCASI will be filling that gap, by providing information sessions, online info and mapping of services and undertaking public education to counteract any pushback from the anti-refugee/immigrant minority. The majority of Canadians have little appetite for xenophobic sentiments as evidenced by the recent federal election results, but those of us concerned about issues of inclusion and equity must remain vigilant and proactive in stamping out racism, islamaphobia and xenophobia wherever they arise.
There are many moving parts to this file and an unprecedented number of actors. But Canada has shown itself to be creative in responding to crisis as evidenced by our past responses to global crises like our airlift of over five thousand Kosovars in a few weeks in 1999 or our most shining moment of resettling tens of thousands of Vietnamese and Indo-Chinese families during the late nineteen seventies. For this we won the Nansen Award from the UNHCR as a people. This is the reputation we must live up to. The occasion calls for us to rise as a nation, and I'm pleased to say that Ontario – our immigrant and refugee serving sector, our municipal governments, our public institutions, our Faith communities and our provincial government are readying to heed the call.
As we remember those who have fought and fallen and those who continue to fight for freedom, for access to equitable opportunities and life chances, let us recommit to building a Canada that is progressive and that represents that progressiveness through public policies that address the needs and wants of those who are most vulnerable amongst us as a nation and as citizens of the world.
In Solidarity…..
Click here for Debbie Douglas interview with CBC on preparing for the arrival of Syrian refugees.