Syrian Refugees: Iraqi Experience and Iraqi Arrivals

syrian refugees: The data offer insight into what lies ahead for the nearly 30,000 Syrian refugees who have arrived since November, because the demographics of the two groups share some similarities, researchers say, according to Hamilton Spectator. But the study also reveals that the groups settling Syrians last fall and earlier this year reported many of the same challenges that had already been encountered during the Iraqi experience. The 19,427 Iraqis who arrived between 2009 and 2014 faced numerous barriers, including the trauma of the war, greater medical needs and a relative lack of English and French, the study found. The surge of Iraqi arrivals strained resources, while the complexity of the cases made it hard to provide the right support, researchers were told. All of that has an influence on outcomes, and the fact that lessons appeared to go unlearned suggests governments need to do a better job thinking about how they respond to refugee crises, said Carl Hetu, the Canadian national director of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association, which has worked with refugees from both Iraq and Syria. "It is always about the now, and things that look good on Twitter on Facebook," Hetu said. "But you need to work at it." The Immigration Department said it did apply some lessons from the Iraqi experience to the Syrian program. Refugees also received little information about what to expect when they arrived and struggled to find affordable housing on income supports that didn't cover the high cost of living in urban centres, the study found. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.