The region could receive up to 400 Syrian refugees this year — twice what was expected.
The federal Immigration Department announced Friday that the City of Victoria will become the first B.C. region outside of Metro Vancouver to receive government-assisted refugees through the Resettlement Assistance Program. The refugees will be supported by the Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria.
Up to 200 government-assisted refugees are expected, said Jean McRae, executive director of the Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria, along with up to 200 refugees supported by private-sponsorship groups.
McRae said she expects a number of government-assisted refugees to be here by the end of March. “They’ll begin arriving in several weeks,” she said. “It sounds like, from what I’m hearing from colleagues across the country, that mostly it’s families.”
To date, 28 Syrian refugees have arrived in the region through private sponsorships, in which people get together to generate funds to support their assigned refugees for a year. Thirty-four such groups have been organized through the Inter-Cultural Association. Costs can be up to $50,000 a year for a large family.
Government-sponsored refugees are not associated with any sponsorship group and are chosen by the government on the basis of vulnerability. They are supported entirely by the government for their first year in the country.
McRae said it has been a challenge to find housing for the refugees, “but we’re working with all the necessary people to see what we can accomplish.”
Other support needed includes health care, education, language training and job programs.
The Inter-Cultural Association is ready to do all it can, she said.
“We’re pretty excited about it,” McRae said. “This is something that’s been happening in every other capital city across the country, and there’s been government-assisted refugees going to much smaller cities than Victoria for many, many years.
“We can handle it.”
John McCallum, minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship, called the announcement good news for the region.
“This is a great day for Victoria and the refugees who will be destined for [the] beautiful city and the province of British Columbia,” he said.
Victoria joins 23 other centres across Canada included in the federal Resettlement Assistance Program.
The Immigrant Services Society of B.C. is in discussions with Ottawa to designate as many as seven other refugee resettlement communities in B.C.
