Refugee arrival details scant, new funding non-existent

With the first wave of Syrian refugees expected before Christmas, Justin Ryan of the Multicultural Association of the Greater MonctonAreasays there are still no details about how many people are coming, where they will stay or when they will arrive.

"I have absolutely no new details unfortunately," Ryan said in an interview on Information Morning Moncton on Monday.

"The big three questions we getare, 'How many people are coming? When are they going to start arriving?' and, 'What are the arrangements that are going to be in place in terms of accommodations?' ... and we still have no formal information on those three so we're just battening down the hatches and making preparations for plan A, B and everything through to double Z," he said.

MAGMA is estimating Moncton will receive between 250 and 300 Syrian refugees but Ryan says it could be as high as 500 each for Moncton, Saint John and Fredericton.

There are no new, fresh resources in place to suddenly deal with the influx.- Justin Ryan, MAGMA

Ryan says the challenge is being made more difficult by the fact that in the past two years MAGMA and other similar agencies across the Maritimes have been "savagely hit" by funding cutswhich has led the organizationsto cutmany key positions.

"Even when something like this is happening, there's no funding for overtime, we just have to work even smarter and harder in the time that we have we are as prepared as we can be with the resources we have."

Ryan says there is no new funding for groups to help refugees settle, something he argues couldturn out to be a mistake for the province,which hasan aging population.

"We have lost 20 per cent of our K to 12 children in the last 15 years alone, sokeeping children in the system, keeping fresh blood in, people that we can train and come through and pay the pensionchequesthat are growing in number this is a really serious thing."

No new funding expected

A spokesperson for the Anglophone East School District says a committee is in place to help refugees entering the education systembut it has been difficult to prepare without numbers.

Ryan says MAGMA is facingthe same challenge.

"Even if we say, 'Okay, let's imagine it's 500,' there are no new, fresh resources in place to suddenly deal with the influx ... so if you look at children in wait lines for ESL [English Second Language]support and those kinds of things there's really not enough to go around even as it is and this is going to take that well beyond the capacity that it was designed for."

Ryan argues the government should be offering new money to ensure refugees have the language, educational and psychological supports that they need to feel at home and to be successful in New Brunswick.

"The little kidswho have just been through horrendous, horrendous, unimaginable situations so the social support we need to supply on top of the language and educationsupport is going to be enormous."

"The resources and the capacity...it's a big question mark."

On the positive side, Ryan says MAGMA hasliterally been unable to keep up with the offers of support from people in the area.

He says their volunteer coordinator is struggling to respond to all of theoffers from people of their homes, language tutoring and household items.