Lower Mainland Sikh community rallies to help Syrian refugees

The Lower Mainland Sikh community has come together to offer housing, schooling, food, clothing and a slate of services to helpsupport to the Syrian refugees whoare expected to arrive in the area over the next few months.

Officials estimate around 2,500 refugees could land in the region within the next few weeks, as part of the federal government plan to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada by the new year.

• Browse all CBC's B.C. refugee stories

"The Sikh community has come to Canada themselves in many differentwaysfrom the early1900'sand onwards," said Surrey Centre MP Randeep Sarai.

"Welcoming others, newcomers, was part of their life,whetherthey knew them or not.Whetherimmigrants came fromIndia,orwhetherthey were refugees in tumultuous times during the 80s, the Sikh way, the Canadian way, wasalwaysto give them a home, help them at thetemple andhelp feed them" he said.

Over the weekend Sarai facilitated a forum of Sikh organizations which had all expressed a desire to answer the Canadian government'scall for help in resettling the refugees. The result is a list of wide ranging services:

• Free tuition for 1,000 students at KhalsaSchool for one year.
• Free meals, clothing and blankets for 2,000 refugees from Gurdwarasin Vancouver, Richmond, New Westminster, Abbotsford and Surrey.
• A provincewide campaign to find free housing for an expected 200 families.
• Transportation from the airport.
• Pro bono medical services.
• Childcare for as many as 100 children.

Schooling for all religions

The Khalsa School, which has two campuses in Surrey and one in Mission, offers K-12 education based on the standardized B.C. Dogwood curriculum.

"We even have several teachers who speak Arabic, and we will do whatever we can to help the new students feel welcome." said principal Kamalpreet Bagga in a statement.

At the schools one period a day is set aside forSikh religious or culturalstudies, but Sarai saysrefugee students would not be required to take those courses and thatinterfaith teaching will be offered.

"Obviously they're not going to be Sikh. They're probably going toShiaor SunniMuslim orChristians," said Sarai.

"So [the schools]would helpfacilitate any religious teachings thatthey may need. Theybasicallywantto make them feel welcome, feel at home."

The groupthatmet over the weekend has adopted the name Sikh Societies of British Columbia, and says the value of donations being offered is as high as $5 million.

"The community wasgrateful to take upon this challenge while being mindful of the fact that there might be some cultural and language barriers," the group said in a statement.

"Other community organizations are invited to jointhis cause as it affects our community as a whole and not just the Sikh community."