Retired teachers can give rural towns an edge on cities when it comes to settling refugees.
Deborah Young of the Saskatoon Refugee Coalition said a study done by her group showed the rural areas of the Prairies do have resources to help settle newcomers to Canada.
She told a session of the recent conference of the Canadian Council for Refugees that although most refugees come to the big Canadian cities, the rural areas can take some too.
In addition to former teachers and regional colleges who could teach the immigrants English, there are plenty of cheap, family-sized houses in depopulating small towns. Rural communities often want new blood and are willing to support immigrant families.
Read Also
Stock dogs show off herding skills at Ag in Motion
Stock dogs draw a crowd at Ag in Motion. Border collies and other herding breeds are well known for the work they do on the farm.
A third essential for refugees is adequate health services. Young said most communities have the necessities and offer to find volunteers to drive new Canadians to extra services in a nearby city. Some refugees have special health problems or disabilities. Others are in trauma from fleeing war conditions in their home and require mental health counseling.
Young said the study showed the immigrant process requires adjustment on both sides. Communities saw gains in adding more bodies and also benefited from the teamwork and good feelings created by a sponsorship project.
Young has a few cautions for officials wanting to place refugees in rural areas. To ensure the immigrants settle into the community, they must be prepared for what they are coming to. Also, there should be two or more families settled together in a rural district so they can offer mutual comfort and support. Rural placements are often subject to “secondary migration” because the immigrant goes looking for his ethnic culture, largely found in pockets in urban areas.
Federal immigration officials said immigrants and refugees bring a lot of job skills, life experiences and persistence with them. Contrary to the myth that they take jobs from Canadians, most are hard-working and fill jobs no one wants.
Immigrants tend to be entrepreneurial and set up their own businesses. One official told the conference session there is a 98 percent repayment rate on government loans to immigrants to start businesses. That’s much better than the Canadian student loan repayment rate, she added.
