Mahmoud Al Ahmad and Income Support

federal Liberals: They say the pressure is mounting, though not only because of money, according to The Waterloo Record. As five of the 15,412 government-assisted refugees resettled by the federal Liberals since November, they receive a year of income support and there a while yet before that money runs out. What none of them have is a job. What is at stake right now is feeling like they belong in the country they are now calling home. "It getting depressing," said Mahmoud Al Ahmad, 46, through a translator. Despite fasting for the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, the men were among 250 newly-arrived Syrians registered for a job fair put on by Refugee 613 — the Ottawa organization focused on helping the 1600 Syrians who have arrived in the nation capital — along with another group that has worked for years helping newcomers find work. He worked as a long haul truck driver in his native city of Damascus, and has four kids now living in an east-end Ottawa apartment. "The longer I stay at home, the sicker I feel." Their children are in school, making new friends and settling in before their eyes, said Mohammed al Saltan, 31, who has seven kids and an eighth on the way. "The children are busy, they are happy," he said. "We are just sitting around." On a scorching June morning in Ottawa, they did do more than just sit. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.