Dozens of social agencies around Waterloo Region are bracing for one of their biggest undertakings in decades.
The region is expected to take in a noticeable share of the 25,000 Syrian refugees expected to arrive in Canada by the end of the year.
“We anticipate receiving around 1,150 of those, as a conservative estimate,” said Tara Bedard, manager of the Waterloo Region Immigration Partnership.
“This is a huge task for the whole community.”
It’s expected that 850 refugees will arrive locally through the federal government’s refugee process, with at least 300 more brought in via private sponsorships.
Each of those people will need to be connected with housing, doctors, schools and other services.
“They’re going to arrive here with nothing – or very, very little – and they need to quickly start to re-establish their whole life,” Bedard said.
Much remains in flux as the new federal government determines the details of its resettlement program.
Both the federal and provincial governments have promised financial assistance to communities resettling refugees, but it remains to be seen exactly what that entails.
“It’s very much speculative and very much up in the air,” Regional Chair Ken Seiling said Friday.
“We’ll plan the best we can with what we know, and as more information becomes available we’ll adjust our planning.”
More than 50 local agencies have been working together to carry out that planning work.
Many of them have been “bombarded” with calls from people asking how they can help, Bedard said – and answers should be available soon.
“We need a little more time, but people should expect to know very soon the ways they can get involved,” she said.
The first groups of refugees could arrive in Waterloo Region by the second week of December, Bedard said.
