Syrian refugees still hope to go home: UNHCR official

Contrary to some of the headlines circulating Thursday, Syrian refugees are not reluctant to come to Canada, says an official from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Rather, they are overwhelmed and need time to process the possibility, says Gisèle Nyembwe, the public information associate for the UNHCR in Canada.

“I would say that refugees are like you and I and when they are invited to leave a country, this is a big decision,” she tells Yahoo Canada News. “Even when they’ve been living under very difficult conditions, this is a big decision and they need a bit of time.”

It has been just over a week since the Liberal government announced its plan to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada, meeting a key election commitment. The aim is to bring 10,000 by the end of this year and a total of 25,000 by the end of February.

On Nov. 17, staff from UNHCR began sending text messages to Syrians in refugee camps identified as potentially eligible to come to Canada.

According to officials from the department of Immigration and Citizenship, they sent more than 41,000 texts and followed up with phone calls. They found that only about 28,000 of the cellphones they had listed were still working.

Of those 28,000, 3,049 expressed interest in coming to Canada and agreed to meet for an interview. Of those, 1,801 said they wanted to come and are now going through the screening process.

Peter Goodspeed, spokesman and volunteer for Lifeline Syria, says he’s not surprised that there isn’t a sudden rush to come to Canada.

“If you had been living in exile for four years, sank what little money you have left into buying a shack in the Bekaa Valley and were working around the clock as a day labourer to feed your family, a text message on your phone asking if you want to go to Canada might very well go unanswered — at least for a while,” he tells Yahoo Canada News.

People need time to consider moving half way around the world, he agrees.They may also need to see some concrete action before they’re convinced the offer is real.

“I spent a month in the Bekaa Vally last year interviewing refugees and I know first-hand that a lot of them are resigned to having been shut out by the West,” Goodspeed says, adding that many of those determined to escape have fled to Europe. “A lot of folks, encumbered with small families are staying where they are, waiting to see what happens. Once they understand the process and see a shift, they’ll react. Until that happens I think they just see it all as talk.”

Many refugees still hope to return home, Nyembwe adds.

“Like all of us, home is home. There is always that hope that one day they will go back home,” she says. “But right now, for Syrian refugees, there is no certainty that they will be able to go back home very soon.

“I think people appreciate the option they have and they want to think about it a bit.”

The percentage does reflect the results of a poll released with week by Gallup, which found that nearly half of Syrians would leave their war-torn country if they could, but Canada and the United States are the preferred destination for few.

While North America has been the most desired region for potential migrants overall in Gallup surveys since 2007, only six per cent of Syrians desired to migrate to either Canada or the U.S., says the poll.

The results are based on face-to-face interviews with 1,002 adults, aged 15 and older, that took place in Syria in January.

Europe topped the list of desired destinations, with 39 per cent of those who want to leave identifying the region as the place they would like to make a new home.

The Middle East and North Africa was the second most popular destination for 35 per cent and another 10 per cent wished to resettle in Asia.

But “for many Syrians, simply finding a way to leave the country may be more important than where they end up after that,” says Gallup.

The poll has, “with 95 per cent confidence,” a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.