“Experts at being Canadian” will be needed to help refugee family

The first large group of Syrian refugees arrived in Canada at Pearson International Airport on a government flight last night to much fanfare. A refugee family, likely from a future flight like last night’s, will arrive in Huntsville in the coming months. While it takes much work to get a family here, even more needs to be done once they arrive. There will be no shortage of help for Syrian Refugee Sponsorship (SRS) Huntsville to ensure that family will be able to thrive in their adoptive community.

More than 250 local residents turned out for an information session on December 1 to learn more about the group’s efforts and what will be needed once a refugee family arrives. SRS Huntsville began the process of applying to sponsor a family several months ago and are well into the four to six month estimated timeline for a family to arrive in town. (Read Doppler’s earlier story about the group’s efforts here.) If the response so far is any indication, they’ll receive a warm welcome.

Everyone in this room is a Canadian expert at something and you have that gift to give to someone who has no idea what it’s like to live in this country. (A refugee family) doesn’t know that there’s a room full of people in Huntsville who cares about them. They are worried is the tent going to stay up in the next month when winter comes, is there going to be enough food.
-Alex Hauschildt, a representative from sponsorship organization AURA at a December 1 information session at Trinity United Church

Who that family will be is unknown. Through this process, refugees don’t know where they are headed and sponsors don’t know who they will be assigned until after they’ve landed, said Hauschildt. It makes advance planning more difficult but with the number of local residents who have stepped forward to offer assistance with everything from ESL instruction and setting up a bank account to accommodation and dental care, they’ll be well taken care of.

SRS Huntsville’s sponsorship commitment is for one year – that includes fiscal responsibility for necessities like housing, food, clothing, and transportation, as well as basic needs like help setting up a bank account, enrollment in ESL classes if needed, school registration for children, and helping the refugees to understand the rights and responsibilities of being Canadian. Refugees are granted permanent resident status and can look toward citizenship.

The goal during that year is to provide the family with enough support and encouragement that they will be able to stand on their own once the sponsorship commitment ends.

Hauschildt cautioned that doing too much for the family is not in their best interest. “If you do too much, you establish a lifestyle that will be difficult for them to continue once the sponsorship is over. You want to give them everything and make a difference, but try to establish how they are going to live afterward.”

Brandy Van Gelder, co-chair of SRS Huntsville added, “These people are going to be safe when they come and I think that’s the most important thing. That’s what we all need to be thinking about. There are so many unanswered questions that they will have when they come but they will be safe and they’re coming to a very compassionate community in Huntsville.”

SRS Huntsville co-chairs Brandy Van Gelder and Robin Mautner

We wanted to know how local residents hope to help once a refugee family arrives. Here’s what they said:

Reverend Derek Shelly at Trinity United Church said that church trustees have offered to rent the house adjacent to the church for the family, pending rezoning of the property from commercial to residential. It was used by the church’s minister many years ago and was more recently converted to office space.

“We want to make it available at an affordable housing rate to the family. It has four bedrooms on the second floor and the third floor could be a family room or another bedroom to accommodate multiple people,” said Shelly. A kitchen will need to be installed on the first floor and other work will need to be done to the property, but community members have already stepped up to offer help. Work on the application for rezoning and work permit have been donated, as has the electrical work required. A Grandview condo owner donated furniture which will be moved in to the house this weekend.

Local dentist Doug Litchfield has offered dental services to the family for a year. “I think it’s wonderful. It’s great for the town to get behind this. There are people in a very dire situation, and not unlike you and I they came from stable family homes and are now living in tents. We can relate to how tragic their situation has become.”

Karen Litchfield is a retired Pediatric Occupational Therapist. “I could help provide educational input to the children and address developmental issues should any of the children have any learning disabilities or developmental delays. I could also assist the parents with learning the English language. I am also willing to provide clothing and household items as needed. I love to decorate, so could also assist with home decorating needs including painting. Our family would also be interested in introducing them to sporting activities available in Huntsville.”

Local teacher Clare McLean-Wilson said she was “a bit overwhelmed walking into that huge gym full of people who want to help and make difference. I know how lucky we are to live and work in such a caring and involved community. Jeff (Mann) and I are excited to volunteer with language skills through recreation. We are keen to take new Canadians skiing, paddling and hiking in our beautiful part of the world. As for financial support, I will be donating first to UNHCR CANADA because I think that will get help to refugees soonest. I will support our local fundraisers also, and am excited that this group from Huntsville is working so hard to sponsor a family or families.”

Yvonne Heath, a local nurse and author, had the most practical approach. “When they get here, let’s ask them what they need. Be open and willing to listen to what is most important to them. As a society, we really complicate things sometimes. So let’s start with the basics. They’ll need food, they’ll need shelter, and they’ll need to feel safe. Let’s make sure we lay that groundwork.”

This is an extraordinary, eye opening thing for everyone. It’s very easy to live where we live. It’s not okay to know that anyone is starving or being persecuted. And we can take care of our own communities at the same time. There’s enough to go around. It doesn’t mean we are ignoring our local people in need and we don’t have to sacrifice ourselves in huge proportions to help our local people and refugees. We have an extraordinary community, we just need guidance. What if everyone gave 10 dollars and an hour of their time? What would that accomplish?
Yvonne Heath

Graphic Designer and fitness coach Kyra Watters echoed that sentiment. “People think, ‘What can I do?’ We can all do practical things like collecting food, clothes, and furniture, or be volunteer drivers. I love that health professionals and teachers are stepping forward. I don’t think any part of their life will go unaddressed and no one is going to feel overworked or overwhelmed.

“Even though we aren’t an urban centre and maybe don’t have as many amenities, we have the same heart and drive and passion to help. We may have to work a bit harder to make up for not having some things. We might have to drive them farther to help them adapt, to grocery stores to help them get familiar things or to places for their religious beliefs.

“Where we can make up for it is in the intimacy of a small town. They will have 18,000 people hugging them with love.”

Watters found the statistic shared by Hauschildt that “there are 19 million refugees in the world and only about 4 million of those are Syrian” a sobering thought. “Doing this as a small northern town, this really opens the door for future refugees,” said Watters. “We are setting the ground work. In the future, people will be able to say we’ve done it before and it’s not so scary. It’s necessary. Larger cities can’t keep taking people indefinitely. The rest of us have to step up.”

For more information on how to help visit www.srshuntsville.com or email questions to [email protected].

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