Syrian refugee crisis 'a disgrace' says Nenshi as Albertans try to help

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The world is watching in horror as the image of a young boy Alan Kurdiface down and dead on a Mediterranean shoreline, flashes across screens and screams out from newspaper front pages, bringingthe ongoing Middle Eastrefugee crisis into sharp relief.

Immigration Minister Chris Alexanderhas temporarily suspended his re-election campaign to deal with the crisis a day after defending the government's handling of the crisis while blaming the media for a lack of coverage.

MayorNaheedNenshi, speaking on Thursday, lashed out at what he sees as "the mean-spiritedness that seems to havesnuckinto our political discourse."

"We're a country of generosity and we're a country of opportunity.The fact that we have not even taken the Syrian refugees that we have committed to take, let alone takingmany morepeople who are fleeing the most desperate situation only looking for opportunity in the world, to me is a disgrace," he said.

In Calgary, however, there are those who have been working to bring more refugees from the Middle East to Canada to help ease the burden on countries that cannot keep up with the massive migration and to give peace and shelter to those on the move.

Mennonite Central Committee

The Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), which has an agreement with the federal government to sponsor refugees,is workingwith families and Muslim communities to bring people to Canada.

"We have an open-door policy nowwhere communities can come to us and sponsor those refugees," said Orlando Vasquez with the MCC.

Those wanting to bring family or friends to Canada must bring permanent resident applications tothe committee, which will review the application and ensureit fits within the frameworkbefore sending it off to the government.

They have seen people arrive as quickly as six months after an application is sent to the originating country.

Faribroz Birjandian,the executive director of the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society, hasbeen in the business of helping refugees for decades. Before thathe had to flee his home country as a refugee, and for that reason he saysthe picture of Kurdi is especially haunting.

"My children were three and five when we had to escape Iran because of religious persecution, so itmeans a lot to me. It actually makes me feel illseeingsomething like that," he said.

'Happening over and over'

Abe Janzen, also with MCC, says the crisis overseas is overwhelmingfor the refugees and for the countries trying to take them in.

"What happens when a city like Calgary doubles its population in two weeks? We can't sustain it, and so it becomes difficult for everyone," he said.

"We have a huge international crisis, we all have to own it. This is not a place where we want to say this country or that country should do more, we all need to own this together."

Janzen says something has to give.

"It spills over. It's going to keep spilling over. This family, this tragedy that we all saw yesterday, is happening over and over because of that tragedy that has people coming out of Syria, out of Iraq, into the neighbouring countries and onto the shores of the Mediterranean."

Birjandian says ifall the talk turns into action for Syrian refugees,this young child'sdeath will not be in vain.

A rally to address theSyrian refugee crisis is being held on Friday at Calgary'sCity Hall at6 p.m.