It’s hard to imagine a place that’s more different from a refugee camp or the bombed-out streets of Syrian cities and towns than Haida Gwaii, the lush archipelago off British Columbia’s north coast known for its soaring totem poles.
Operation Refugees Haida Gwaii has got everything in place to welcome two Syrian families of up to eight people.
For the first family, it has secured a dream home in Queen Charlotte City. It’s got a fireplace, a deck with a stunning view of inlet that most Canadians only dream of and space for a garden. The house has been vacant for several years and Parks Canada, which owns it, has agreed to rent it for $1,000 a month.
A second house that the group hopes to secure in Sandspit has been vacant ever since the RCMP stopped posting an officer there.
They’ve raised $5,000 from an art auction (now closed) on the group’s Facebook page, held bake sales and there’s a fundraising dance planned for May. Furniture has been donated. Clothes and food have been promised once their families have been identified.
There are teachers of English as a second language ready to help; three business owners will train and hire the refugees if there’s a match in skills and willingness.
But what seems most improbable of all in a community of only 4,761 people are the two Arabic speakers. One is a school counsellor who emigrated from Egypt, the other is of African ancestry who grew up in the Syrian capital of Damascus.
Beng Favreau is one of the organizers. She’s executive director of Literacy Haida Gwaii and speaks five languages (although not Arabic). She came to Canada from Singapore as a\
student, fell in love with a guy from Saskatchewan, married him and moved to Queen Charlotte City when he was hired to develop French immersion programs. Their first taste of the community came the first week when a neighbour knocked on their door and handed them a freshly caught salmon.
Another member of the group, Carl Coffey, arrived in Haida Gwaii in the 1960s as a political refugee from the United States. He was subsequently adopted by Percy Williams of the Eagle clan of Skedans. And, of course, there are Haida on the committee.
“It’s the passion piece that kicked in,” Favreau said. “It’s a small town, but people have big hearts here.”
The community has a history of reaching out to help. It raised money for the Japanese tsunami victims in 2011. In the 1970s, it welcomed Vietnamese boat people, who eventually moved south. But, as Favreau said, the point of offering refuge isn’t that the people have to stay where they are put. Rather, it is to provide them safe haven until they are ready to find the best place to become fully participating citizens.
Operation Refugees has only one problem: No refugees. Like many other private sponsorship groups, the folks in Haida Gwaii are still waiting.
To process and transport 25,000 government-sponsored refugees to Canada by the end of February, the government placed a moratorium on processing families in the Blended Visa Office-Referred program, which the Haida Gwaii group signed up for.
Under BVOR, the United Nations High Commission on Refugees identifies and recommends refugees for resettlement to the Canadian government, which then notifies private sponsors. The government pays the resettlement costs for six months and the sponsors support the refugees for another six months.
Last week, Canada sent out its first BVOR bulletin in months with 25 or so families listed. They were snapped up by other groups before Operation Refugees even had a chance to respond.
Favreau and the others are a bit worried that nobody wants to come to their community. They’re also concerned that being so far away from Vancouver, let alone Ottawa, nobody is aware of how keen they are to help.
They’re so anxious to help that a month ago, Favreau emailed the Immigration Settlement Services Society of B.C. offering to take any government-assisted refugees still bunked in hotel rooms in Surrey.
Operations Refugees offered to pay the airfare to Haida Gwaii and even do any of the necessary paperwork.
She has yet to get a response.
So, they’re still waiting. But, Favreau said, “When our first family comes? Yahoo! We’ll be ready to celebrate.”
