“We are all refugees” Trinity United Church facilitates discussion on Syrian crisis

September 23, 2015 · 0 Comments

Most Canadians can trace their finger along the family tree and find an ancestral “refugee” in the not too distant past. These immigrants in our genealogical history often came to Canada for food, freedom, and hope – leaving their homeland behind in search of a better one. We hold them in esteem as courageous, industrious, pioneers. “In a way, we are all refugees,” said Reverend David Howes at Trinity United Church during a public discussion September 17th where local residents came together to grasp the enormity and urgency of the Syrian refugee crisis.
In this land of privilege, many of us would be reluctant to face the challenge of changing jobs, let alone leaving behind our entire home and everything we know. At the discussion group, led by LeeAnn McKenna an aid worker with 25 years experience and Rev. David Howes the minister for Trinity United Church, concerned citizens struggled with the reasons behind the desperate mass migration out of Syria as millions risk a perilous journey to pour over the borders of neighbouring and unwelcoming countries. Syrians of all religions, including Muslims and Christians, are being driven from Syria by the undiscriminating horrors of a relentless and escalating war of four years that has killed over 200,000 people with no regard for the Geneva Protocol prohibiting the use of chemical weapons … they are running for their lives.
Options are few and a delayed response from Europe has resulted in resources stretched beyond capacity as tens of thousands arrive daily. Germany has now announced they will accept one million Syrian refugees. France, Italy and Sweden have become key asylum countries preparing to accept hundreds of thousands. On the border of Syria, Turkey has become limbo to over two million Syrian refugees while international leadership has busied itself with strategic politicking with Russia and refugees start to flood into Europe… and now winter approaches.
LeeAnn McKenna spoke of R2P The Responsibility to Protect, a United Nation’s principle that “sovereignty is not an absolute right, and that states forfeit aspects of their sovereignty when they fail to protect their populations from mass atrocity crimes and human rights violations” and that “the international community has a responsibility to intervene.” She stressed that bombing was not the solution and that attacking ISIS made it easier for Bashar al-Assad to continue military aggression against his own people.
In Canada, Syrian refugees are now a hot button election issue as Canadians become more aware of the depth of the crisis and a call for humanity rises. Stephen Harper has suddenly found his and pledged the government will match public donations up to 100 million dollars in aid for the refugees. Canadian groups, such as Westminster Church in Orangeville, who have been trying to sponsor Syrian refugee families, have been frustrated by government red tape and the time it takes, sometimes years, to bring them to Canada. Now, Immigration Minister Chris Alexander reports that although the Harper government will be accelerating refugee resettlement it will not be increasing annual immigration targets – 10,000 spaces in addition to the 15,000 promised for Syrian refugees in 2014 will not be new, but taken away from refugees from other countries. There are more people in Orangeville than the Conservatives are promising to allow from Syria – Syrian refugees now number 4 million and growing as well as 7.6 million displaced in the battlefield that was once Syria. Both the Liberal and NDPs are pledging to expedite immigration and accept more refugees.
Foremost, those in attendance wanted to know how they could help now. Rev. Howes told the crowd that the United Church Toronto Conference was willing to seed fund $5000 toward the sponsorship of a refugee family to willing groups. He noted that welcoming immigrants, despite an initial cost of around $31,000, generates economic growth. Although donations, as well as sponsorship with local groups like Westminster Church which is still seeking support for their anticipated refugee family, are immediate ways individuals can contribute, it was stressed that to change the bigger picture we, the people must push our politicians. As former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien wrote this week, Canadians must demand a return to “our great tradition of peace-building.” LeeAnn McKenna encouraged the crowd to write to political leaders federally as well as within the Dufferin-Caledon riding. Rev. Howes suggested following the subsequent format provided on-line, drafted and encouraged by Amnesty International:
“I am calling on you and all the national party leaders to set politics and campaigning aside to urgently address the mounting Syrian refugee crisis. Immediate, concrete and generous steps must be made to significantly increase Canada’s contribution both to resettling refugees and international efforts to resolve the conflict and human rights crisis in Syria.
I am urgently calling on the government to:
• Announce a program to immediately resettle a minimum of 10,000 Syrians through government sponsorship and provide support for generous levels of private sponsorship of Syrian refugees.
• Lift obstacles to speedy family reunification and allow refugee cases to be processed within Canada.
• Launch an immediate review of Alan Kurdi’s uncle’s case to identify any obstacles that stood in the way of approval of his family’s application for resettlement to Canada.
• Intensify Canada’s efforts to ensure more effective international action to resolve the conflict and human rights crisis in Syria, including increased humanitarian aid and pressing for a comprehensive arms embargo.
All parties should articulate a concrete policy for Canada’s response to refugees, including this current crisis.” (www.amnesty.ca)
The discussion at Trinity raised more questions than answers to a looming crisis which only promises to get worse with time as grossly under funded camps produce disease, hunger and violent unrest. As Canadians, we hold our own personal “refugee” history in esteem – proud of the long ago grandfather who left his home in desperate times and struggled against all odds to hand us the life and the country we are so lucky to live in – we must decide with our votes if we will allow the fear within us, and manufactured around us, to deny those seeking sanctuary now.

By Marni Walsh