Before I begin, please just take the time and imagine what it would be like to live life like this. You can’t right? We as Canadians who were born and raised here cannot imagine what it would be like to live like this, and for that I am thankful.
I am proud to show this video and state that Canada helps fifty to sixty thousand refugees a year, but once these refugees have immigrated to Canada what do they do? How do they start their life fresh? They have no education, no work experience; they do not have any chance at getting a job. This brings them with no other choice but to live with assistance. This does not only affect them as an individual, but there whole family. There are many young immigrants who have so much life ahead of them that come to Canada and struggle with language barriers every day. This enables them to succeed and reach their goals, “In 2004, about 51,000 immigrants to Canada were children under 15 years of age. Of those, slightly more than 14% (about 5,200) were refugees (Chuang and Canadian Immigrant Settlement Sector Alliance [CISSA], 2009). Increasingly, these children come from countries where English or French are not the official or first language spoken: in 2002, 74% of all immigrant children could not speak either official Canadian language” (Walsh, 2011).
Immigrating to Canada was a million times better then where they did live, don’t get me wrong, but these children have long lives ahead of them with little to no experience. Yes, education is provided for them until they graduate high school, but after that what happens? These parents never got the opportunity to save money for their children to get higher education, nor do they have credit for loans. “Canadians are an educated lot. More of us have a university education than any other developed nation, and only five countries have a higher percentage of high-school grads then we do. But its the masses that are enjoying the benefits of the system-many people who fall outside the norm are left behind."(Borzykowski, 2009) This leaves them with two options; get a minimum wage job if they take you with having no work experience, or having to apply and live off social assistance. Social assistance is not something anyone wants to live on for the rest of their lives. It provides the bare minimum and that is all, no one would be satisfied with just that.
Everyone has a dream and life itself is that one chance you get to become that person you wish to be. No one on this entire world should have that chance taken away from them. We need programs for the refugees and immigrants that would provide them with skills, education and financial assistance for post secondary school. Living in a Liberal society we can give these immigrants and refugees the chance they deserve to reach their dreams.
Sylvia
Walsh, C. 2011. Needs of Refugee Children in Canada: What can Roma Refugee Families Tell us?. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 599-613.
Borzykowski, B. (2009). EDUCATION THE KIDS WHO FALL BETWEEN THE CRACKS. Canadian Business, 107-108.
Good post. I too am so thankful for all the things that we have in our lives as Canadians that we take for granted. I think that it is great that Canada is taking in so many refugees and giving them a fresh start, and totally agree with you on the fact that there should be something put in place to give them an advantage in the educational and professional backgrounds. Not many people immigrate to Canada from wonderful situations in their home country, and we should be making sure the hard times aren't continuing in their new country.
ReplyDeleteLeah
Wow Sylvia, you expressed my inner feelings!
ReplyDeleteyou are genuine enough to address the reality in yourself and the world outside.Though I am not a refugee as such (who are forced to leave their country by external forces like war) but an immigrant (who leave the place of their own in search of better opportunity)and have experienced lots of hardships in my home country because of the lack of opportunity and in here Canada as a "foreigner" pushed behind by the barriers that you mentioned in the blog.
I am equally hopeful like you and Leah that things are in their better directions ahead.
Subas
I have to add that, coming to Canada as a refugee myself, I have witnessed my parents going through the difficulties of getting a job that reflects their education. However, both of my parents had to settle for minimum wage job, a job that had nothing to do with their credentials, just so they could support our family. Going on social assistance was not even an option for my parents because of the stigma attached to it: being on welfare suggests to some that we were lazy. Canada should really get their immigration policy rechecked. Good post.
ReplyDelete-Medina
Good post! It's horrible how we take so much for granted here in Canada, like water and other resources. When they arrive here, their education usually doesn't transfer over and they are forced to take any job they can get. This usually isn't the any more than minimum wage. They come here with big dreams, and the sad reality is it's sometimes harder then assumed. Like you said, we need more programs to help then get ahead.
ReplyDeleteJenn S
Great post! It is sad to see what is happening to people who immigrate to Canada. Immigrants must feel so lost once they come here and realise they can't speak the same language as anyone else and they can't get an education to better their lives. I agree that their must be more policies and goverment funding to help immigrants!
ReplyDelete-Brigitte Tetrault
It is a shame that the solution to forcing people out of their homes, town, villages, cities and country is to give them refugee states and move them, when really that is not what is really wanted. I know that if I was forced out of my home by violence I would be angry as hell and I would want justice. I think that it shows that international law has no teeth and that no country has an interest in enforcement of international Law called the right to protect document for fear of soverinty issues.
ReplyDeleteLisa
When I think of people being displaced because of political violence I think of Hitler and the Second World War and that it is just another form of international political appeasment and we become willfully blind to the ugly truths that are happening until it is no longer politically useful to hide them.
ReplyDeleteLisa