With thousands of refugees coming to Canada over the next few months, the Multicultural Association of the Greater Moncton Area is holding presentations about the Syrian situation.
MAGMA Public Education Coordinator Justin Ryan says he occasionally hears people saying the Syrian refugees are stealing Canadian jobs and resources and should go back where they came from.
“Why don’t they go back home? There’s no home! It’s been blown into rubble by every country on Earth fighting through Syria,” says Ryan. “There’s no home to go back to.”
Ryan is often asked why so many resources are devoted to helping refugees.
He says there are significant differences between independent immigrants, like himself and refugees.
“I chose to come here, I researched it, I chose Moncton, New Brunswick as opposed to any other place on Earth because my wife is here, I came here with money and resources and planning and picked my flight,” says Ryan. “If I’m a refugee, none of those things are true.”
Ryan says he hears many complaints about helping Syrian Refugees who appear to be well off, or have cellphones.
“No, you see the live ones with cellphones,” says Ryan. “This connects me to the Internet, this tells me where there’s conflict, this tells me where there’s open borders, this tells me where there’s refugee shelters handing out food.”
Ryan says taking in refugees is an investment because for an upfront cost, these same refugees may become job generating, tax paying citizens in the future.
