Refugees Coming to Canada, and Kitchener-Waterloo

One of Justin Trudeau’s campaign promises was that under him, Canada would welcome 25,000 refugees to help ease the crisis in Europe. The first refugees have already arrived, and more will be coming soon. (These earliest refugees were approved by the previous Conservative government, which had pledged to accept 10,000 refugees.) While the government does not believe that all of the refugees will arrive this year, it is hoped that all 25,000 will safely arrive by February. The Ontario government plans to resettle an additional 10,000 refugees. Note that this is only a small fraction of the millions who have fled Syria since 2011.

One controversial aspect of the refugee resettlement is that single men are to be one of the lowest priorities for acceptance. (Reports of a blanket ban on single men were apparently an exaggeration.) Some see this as discrimination; others, as a necessary safety measure, especially in the wake of the deadly attacks in Paris last month. Another concern, of course, is security, with some expressing fears that radicals or even terrorists will be able to enter Canada unnoticed in a crowd of refugees. It is to be noted that the refugees will be screened and approved before entry, and, as mentioned above, priority will be given to families and to vulnerable groups.

Over a thousand refugees will be settled in the Kitchener-Waterloo region. This is one of six areas in Ontario that will receive refugees; the others are Hamilton, London, Ottawa, Toronto, and Windsor. Kitchener will receive about 3.7% of the total number of government-sponsored refugees coming to Canada. There have already been a handful of arrivals, mainly sponsored by private groups.

What You Can Do To Help

There are several organizations in Kitchener-Waterloo who will be helping to settle the refugees. Some of them are:

• Reception House Waterloo Region (kwrcentre.ca)
• Welcome Home Refugee Housing Community (welcomehomekw.ca)
• Mennonite Coalition for Refugee Support (mcrs.ca)
• Sanctuary Refugee Health Centre (sanctuaryrefugee.ca)

If you belong to a religious community, ask your leaders – they are probably involved with the resettlement as well. Please try to donate a little time or money – we are all students and don’t have much of either, but remember that most of the new arrivals will have even less.