By Mohamed Abdi
People come to Canada for political or economic reasons. Wars uproot people and drive them out of their homes, forcing many to flee as far as Canada, which is located at the top of North America, above the United States. Canada is situated at the far northern end of the world and is 10,064 km and 12,762 km away from the Middle East and East Africa, respectively.
Millions of Syrians fled their country after their homes had been leveled to the ground by the callous, ousted Assad regime. Thousands of them perished under the rubble of their destroyed homes, while the lucky ones ran with their lives, braving all sorts of dangers. Millions escaped to neighboring countries such as Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey, where they congregated in refugee camps beaten by cold and dust. On the other hand, hundreds of thousands of Syrians crossed the seas and sought refuge in Western countries, including Canada, a country that has resettled more than one hundred thousand of them since the fall of 2015.
Since the start of the Syrian war in 2011, Canada has stood by the side of the Syrian people, assisting them in every possible capacity. As carnages continued and the Assad regime continued inflicting all sorts of unheard-of atrocities on innocent civilians, Canada continued extending its helping hands to the Syrian people, salvaging them from wretched conditions. Fleeing Assad’s brutal regime, Syrians fared the seas oblivious to what might happen to them. Crammed boats carrying beleaguered Syrians capsized, drowning their passengers and washing up their bodies on beaches. The image of the lifeless body of the Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi drowned in the sea and washed up by a Turkish beach horrified Canadians and catapulted them to swift action.
The plight of the Syrian people epitomized by the case of Alan Kurdi added fuel to a federal campaign in Canada. While campaigning in October 2015, Justin Trudeau promised to bring in twenty-five thousand Syrian refugees within three months if he won the country’s premiership seat. The seemingly unattainable promise became part of the 2015 federal election campaign discourse in Canada. How it would be possible to bring in such a large number of Syrian refugees within three months was a question on everyone’s mind.
Justin Trudeau won the country’s federal election held on October 19, 2015. He was sworn in on November 4 to become Canada’s 23rd prime minister. He then buckled down to achieve the promised deal. His Liberal government carried out a campaign dubbed “Operation Syrian Refugees” and worked with provincial, territorial, and municipal governments to resettle the aforementioned number of Syrian refugees within the stipulated time. Also, the liberal federal government teamed up with private sponsors and non-governmental organizations to welcome to the country more than twenty-five thousand Syrian refugees by the end of February 2016. The prime minister stuck to his promise and achieved it. “Canada resettled more than 25,000 Syrian refugees between November 4, 2015, and February 29, 2016. This was part of the government’s Operation Syrian Refugees, which was a response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria. The initiative involved a national effort, with more than 300 communities across Canada working with private sponsors, non-governmental organizations, and provincial, territorial, and municipal governments.”
Coming to a country as advanced as Canada and adjusting to its lifestyle is not an easy matter. Syrian refugees resettled in the country have come from all walks of life and brought with them ample experiences and needed expertise. Nevertheless, many of them cannot make use of their skills and expertise due to a language barrier manifesting in the lack of sufficient English or French. English is the primary language spoken in all of Canada’s provinces, except one province: Quebec. And the vast majority of the Syrians have been settled in English-speaking Canada. Many Syrian professionals—former doctors, nurses, pharmacists, engineers—have started all over again and found themselves in classrooms to learn English to adjust to the country’s system and possibly integrate in the end if they overcome untenable obstacles.
New comers attend LINC (Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada) classes to learn English. The LINC classes are meant for permanent residents and protected persons to learn English. They are first tested on listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills and are placed in their proper levels accordingly. The program has five basic levels (1-5); anything after that is a bit advanced level. To complete a level and move up the ladder to the next level depends on the individual student’s time and commitment put into their studies, but completing each LINC level might take up to six months.
Although highly educated with degrees and diplomas in different fields, many Syrians cannot speak adequate English. They were, of course, taught in Arabic, their mother tongue and their country’s language of instruction. Instead of practicing their skills, Syrian professionals attend LINC classes to enhance their English proficiency without which they will never practice their expertise. Imagine a surgeon supposed to be in an operating room sitting in an (L2) classroom. What a demeaning experience! In addition to struggling with learning English, Syrian professionals are doing menial jobs, such as janitorial jobs, housekeeping jobs, meat cutting jobs, to mention but a few instances.
Syrians did not value English until they were forced to escape and sought refuge in Western countries, Canada included. Therefore, English proficiency is a significant barrier for Syrians in Canada, affecting their ability to integrate into society, find employment, and access services. Government of Canada sources are a testament to the predicament of the language barrier they face. “When they arrive, about 55% of Syrian refugees don’t speak English or French. The majority of Syrian refugees in Canada reported having limited English proficiency. Statistics gathered by IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) show that 24% of Syrian refugees do not know English, while 50% do not exceed level 2 (Khabra, 2017).”
Will Syrians in Canada return home?
Not any immigrant community has ever gone back home in a big number. Immigrants come to Canada, acclimatize to it, become citizens of the country after three years, put down some roots, and have dreams and aspirations to achieve for themselves and their children. Therefore, it is unlikely to see a large number of Syrians packing their belongings, leaving for their motherland, and bidding goodbye to Canada, a country that shackles all first-generation immigrants and makes them live with everlasting nostalgia. Nonetheless, some Syrians may embark on short trips to see family and friends. An 18-year-old Syrian-Canadian woman who had left Aleppo with her family ten years ago had to say this: “As much as I love Canada, as much as I love the mountains, I would love to go back one day there. It’s my city.”
Nostalgia is part of every first-generation immigrant and it may take a toll on them. When people come to Canada, they become filled with nostalgia for their homes, family members, friends, familiar neighborhoods, and cultural foods. It is a fact that all ethnic foods are available in Canada, but that sole availability may not suffice or lessen the nostalgia one might have for their cultural foods. Immigration itself is a social trauma, exposing immigrants to many challenges, some of which may not be resolved at all. Nostalgia takes a toll on people who struggle to adjust to the system or integrate into Canadian society, and many immigrants fall under that category. Nostalgia for one’s homeland increases when that person is seen differently by the host culture.
Fortunately, Canada is a diverse country holding many different communities and cultures together; they live and work side by side peacefully. However, the dream of returning home one day and establishing life there is a profound aspiration for almost every first-generation immigrant person. While they never let go of that dream, it will never materialize for the majority of them. As time goes by, parents become older and their children become adults.
Then a lot of things change. Discourse changes, interactions change, attachments change. A new reality sets in, and a man-to-man talk or a woman-to-woman begins. For the first-generation immigrants, though, they are still nostalgic about their homelands. Even some compose poems describing how happy they would have been if they had been in their homeland. Their children, conversely, never think of leaving Canada, except for short trips. In the end, the vast majority of immigrant parents elect to stay close to their children, who in the end take their senile parents to nursing homes after they fail to care for them. Is it immoral of the children to do so? It is a circumstantial situation necessitated by children’s situation. What is expected of someone working full-time to earn a living? How can such a person cater to senile parents needing help around the clock? It is even logical for senile parents to reside in senior homes rather than living in empty homes waiting for the return of their sons or daughters after eight hours of work.
Syrians are jubilant to have been rid of a brutal regime that tormented and killed them for a long time. They have celebrated from corner to corner, with millions of them packing their belongings to return to what is left of their homes. Nonetheless, Syrian Canadians are here to stay. They will not return home in big numbers, but some may visit their families and friends. Canada congratulated the Syrians for ousting the autocratic administration. A position statement by the government of Canada posted on its website reads: “Canada welcomes the end of Syria’s Assad regime, which has inflicted decades of suffering on its own people. This event marks a significant turning point for the Syrian people, who have endured unimaginable hardship under the rule of Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez al-Assad.”
Mohamed Abdi
Email: Mohamedabdi203@gmail.com
————
Mohamed Abdi is a Somali-Canadian writer. Read more on his blog: www.bakayr.com
We welcome the submission of all articles for possible publication on WardheerNews.com. WardheerNews will only consider articles sent exclusively. Please email your article today . Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of WardheerNews.
WardheerNew’s tolerance platform is engaging with diversity of opinion, political ideology and self-expression. Tolerance is a necessary ingredient for creativity and civility.Tolerance fuels tenacity and audacity.
WardheerNews waxay tixgelin gaara siinaysaa maqaaladaha sida gaarka ah loogu soo diro ee aan lagu daabicin goobo kale. Maqaalkani wuxuu ka turjumayaa aragtida Qoraaga loomana fasiran karo tan WardheerNews.
Copyright © 2025 WardheerNews, All rights reserved
