The Syrian Refugee Crisis finally gets noticed by the world (Sep 2015)

We all remember in early September 2015 when a picture of a young Syrian boy lying face down, dead on a beach, caused the world to wake-up and notice the refugee crisis of the Syrian people.

It only took us four years.

The articles in this publication highlight articles that relate to the Syrian refugee situation, the Canadian government’s preparations to resettlement them, and/or the Waterloo Region’s local efforts to prepare for their arrival.

September 2015

At the beginning, everyone is asking how they can help.

The Canadian government announces a new “Syrian Emergency Relief Fund” to match Canadian donations up to $100 million: The Article

Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Canada has been helping refugees settle in Canada since 1979.

MCC Canada publishes a page that lists four practical ways any person or group can help: The Article

MCC Canada goes further for groups who might be considering sponsoring a refugee family, and publishes an FAQ page called “Frequently Asked Questions about Refugee Sponsorship”: The Article

The Long Process

Two articles I read contained lots of info about how complex and long the initial process can take before the family actually shows up to be resettled.

Please remember that his describes the process in-place in the fall of 2015:

• “Migrant crisis: a primer for Canadians who want to sponsor refugees”: The Article
• “Refugee sponsorship can be a long, complex process — here’s how it works”: The Article

Once the Liberals formed their new federal government in November, they immediately made many changes to the process, added many resources to it, and ramped up the Canadian capacity to hand-pick the most vulnerable refugees, perform thorough security and health screenings, create large staging areas in Toronto and Montreal, and gear up other parts of the process.

Under the new processes, 25,000 of the most vulnerable refugees will be arriving in Canada over the next three months or so.

Good “Crisis Explainer”

Around this time, a very helpful article was published entitled “The refugee crisis: 9 questions you were too embarrassed to ask” which included detailed answers to questions such as:

• What is the refugee crisis?
• Why are there so many refugees right now?
• Why is there a war in Syria, and why is it so terrible?
• -Why is the journey so dangerous?
• and many more…

It’s well worth the read: The Article

But wait! Some people prefer to watch a short video explainer instead of reading about it. Ok, fine. We have that too.

Here’s the video on a page called “The Syrian Refugee Crisis Explained Perfectly With a Simple Animation & Video”: The Article

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This is part of a series of articles highlighting how Canada is responding to the Syrian refugee crisis and the overwhelming resettlement needs of these displaced people.

Thanks

PS: Here’s the Next Article

PPS: Here’s the Intro Article about the purpose of this publication