First friends: volunteers a mainstay of resettlement efforts

Suzanne Clair still remembers when she was welcomed into her Syrian family.

It was during her first weeks of volunteering with refugees in Fredericton, and she had politely asked if she could visit the family after supper.

It was just amazing how open they were, and how they welcomed me into their lives. I think that was the best part of the experience.- Suzanne Clair, volunteer with Syrian refugee family

When she arrived, the father said he was angry she had even asked.

"He said, 'You come visit anytime,'" she said. "My house is your house. And you are welcome anytime. Don't send me a message asking if you could come.

"It was just amazing how open they were, and how they welcomed me into their lives. I think that was the best part of the experience."

Clair is one of the First Fredericton Friends, a group of 250 volunteers who signed up to help the Multicultural Association of Fredericton welcome Syrian refugees to Canada.

Province welcomes 1,554 Syrians

The group was created shortly after the federal government announced it would bring in 25,000 refugees from the war-torn country.

Since December 2015, New Brunswick has taken in 1,554 refugees, more per capita than any other province in the country. About 600 of them are school-age children, and 604 are working-age adults.

Fredericton also accepted the most refugees per capita, with almost 500 people moving to the city.

Clair said she wanted to volunteer with Syrian refugees after seeing the news of the war on TV.

"You sit here thinking, 'what can I do to help?'" she said.

A job with many facets

At first, she thought her new role meant taking the family to a hockey game or the library.

But she soon realized there was more to the job.

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While her volunteer application asked for a minimum of two to three hours a week with the family, she ended up spending 15 to 20 hours with them in the first few weeks.

She helped them with everything from filling out applications to taking them to the store to setting up doctor appointments.

Boys wanted to play soccer

In the summer, Clair applied for funding so three of the boys could play soccer.

It makes me weak to talk about this because the generosity I just was not aware that people were so kind and so generous.- Bonnie Doughty, Fredericton Multicultural Association

Her husband took them to practices because the family did not own a car yet, she said.

"At first it was like, 'Oh my goodness, this is so much work,"' she said.

The relationship has changed since then, and Clair feels like part of the family.

When the Multicultural Association of Fredericton first asked for volunteers to help with the Syrians, 600 people responded, said Bonnie Doughty, the association's community connections co-ordinator.

Degree of support a surprise

She never expected such an outpouring of support.

"It makes me weak to talk about this because the generosity -- I just was not aware that people were so kind and so generous," she said.

"I always believed that people are, but I just never saw it like this before. And it was really touching to see it."

Doughty said she met people in the past year who went above and beyond to help the Syrians.

There were some who knit sweaters and socks, so the families arriving in winter would not freeze.

One man donated $60,000 worth ofpita breadto the families in the first three months.

But the real heroes were the First Fredericton Friends, she said.

Went above and beyond

When the association first heard about the refugees coming to New Brunswick, they were not prepared for so many at once.

Without the volunteers, the association would not have been able to keep up, she said.

They have helped refugees work on their English, solved problems with paperwork and immigration, and gone above and beyond to welcome the newcomers to the community, she said.

"It could not have been done without the community, and their outpouring of interest and talents and skills," Doughty said.

Family members find their way

Clair said her family is much more independent now.

They own a car and know how to navigate their way around the city. But while her commitment to the family ended after the first six months, she still visits three or four times a week.

Now, however, her visits involve making dinners together and spending time as a family. The children call her aunt.

"Now they are friends and they are family, so I would never say, 'See you later, we're done.' I moved on from that volunteer role quite a while ago."