Toronto nowhere near ready for refugees, citizenship judge says

Thousands of Syrian refugees will arrive in Toronto over the coming weeks.

The federal government has promised details soon about how it will bring 25,000 refugees to Canada by year's end and where they will be housed.

But how ready is Toronto? That's the question Metro Morningis looking at in the week-longseriesCity OfSanctuary.

A retired citizenship judge who was once a refugee himself saidthat the logistical details of resettling thousands of Syrians are immense and Toronto is not close to being ready.

ArisBabikiangrew up in Aleppo, Syria,and lived in Beirut. He came to Toronto 38 years ago when civil war broke out in Lebanon. As the head of the Armenian National Federation, heworked with the government to bring 5,000 Iraqi refugees here every year for five years.

He saidon a readinessscale of one to 10, Toronto is barely at twoor three.

"We don't have any plans yet from the federal government," said Babikian. "With all the good intentions and compassion, we are still struggling with this issue."

For instance, Babikian saidhe went tomeet with Lifeline Syria,one of the organizations helping refugees,and they don't even havean office yet.

Over the past three years, Babikianhashelped hundreds of Syrians come to Canada.

At first, he said, refugeesthought the crisis might be short-livedand they might be able to return. "But in the last three years, they gave up hope that the crisis would be resolved," he said.

Fulfilling basic needs

Babikian said there are steps to successful resettling.

The first key struggle for new refugees to Canada is afinancial one.

"Many have lost everything,coming with one or two suitcases," he said. "They havedifficulty renting placespaying first and last monthsrent."

The next hurdle is finding a job. "They haveno employment record here," he said. That extends to education.

Most school-age refugees, from high school through to university, have lost a year or two and are having difficulties being accepted in university. And there isthe problem of documentation. "Universities are asking fortoo many records for many refugees to provide," he said.

If those two challenges can be successfully navigatedthenext priority,according to Babikian, is furniture and basic household items likecutlery, pots and pans.

But resettling is more than finding homes and work, Babikian said. "They need psychological treatment because they have gone through so much trauma in their cities and in the refugee camps. The treatment from local people in Jordan and Turkey, for example,was terrible,"Babikiansaid.

Another challenge Babikian sees with Syrians coming to Canada now is that they are alone. Under different circumstances, refugees could join existing networks of family or friends. But theurgency here makes that impossible for most Syrians.

"When you bring so many people to new culture, new country, new traditions, we'll have problems," he said. "But we have to plan as perfectly as possible. We need tominimize the strain and the anxiety as much as possible."