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OPINION: Refugees can help grow the North Bay economy

In North Bay, we expect to see members of the Syrian refugee families do well over time. One man recently published a book
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By Don Curry, North Bay

Wilmot Collins is being sworn in as mayor of Helena, Montana, today, Jan. 2.

Why is that significant?

First, Helena is the capital city, population 31,000. Second, Mr. Collins is the first black mayor in the entire state. And third, he is a refugee from Liberia.

The Jan. 1 Globe and Mail article about him notes he is working on his Ph.D. in forensic psychology. He coaches soccer, appears in local theatrical productions and is a former member of the National Guard.

There are many Canadian examples of refugees contributing to society, with one of the most notable being Michaëlle Jean, a 1968 refugee from Haiti who served as Governor-General from 2005-2010 and is now the first female Secretary-General of the Organisation international de la Francophonie.

Collins is an excellent example of the contributions refugees can make to society. His community involvement and leadership is one thing, but a 2015 study by Vancity Credit Union and Simon Fraser University proved refugees have a meaningful economic impact on local economies as well.

The study demonstrated that the influx of Syrian refugees arriving in B.C. will create $563 million in local economic activity over the next 20 years. It showed that refugees have a higher rate of self-employment, tend to be consumers within their local communities and have a history of helping to grow the local economy.

In many communities across Canada, former Vietnamese “boat people” were among the largest contributors to Syrian refugee funding campaigns. They arrived in Canada with nothing, starting in 1978 and continuing through the early 1990s. Now they are well established in their communities and are eager to give back.

In North Bay, we expect to see members of the Syrian refugee families do well over time. One man recently published a book.

In the many conversations I have had with Jimmy Kolios over the years, he often says North Bay should be bringing in hundreds more immigrants and refugees than it does. An immigrant himself and one of the city’s most well-known entrepreneurs, he owns a few of the more than 70 first generation immigrant-owned businesses in the city.

This begs the question—what is the city doing about it?

An updated immigration strategy was due to be released in 2016. Here we are in 2018 and there is still no sign of it. Perhaps it will be rolled into the city’s strategic plan, which hopefully we will see soon.

If it doesn’t have a strategy to get the city recognized as a RAP Centre for GARs it is missing the boat. That sentence likely caught your attention. RAP stands for Resettlement Assistance Program and GARS are Government Assisted Refugees.

GARs have traditionally gone to larger cities, but Thunder Bay conducted a successful pilot and North Bay should be lobbying to get designated as a RAP Centre.  North Bay & District Multicultural Centre Executive Director Deborah Robertson has discussed the issue with MP Anthony Rota. The city needs to show that it is strongly behind the initiative.

We have demonstrated that we have the community support for Syrian refugees. And we did it with individual and church group financial donations and many volunteers helping the families. Designation as a RAP Centre removes the need for local fundraising, as the federal government pays the bills for the first 12 months.

Our community is better equipped to handle a modest number of GAR families than some of the larger cities, where many end up being warehoused in hotel rooms and have little access to an immigrant settlement agency or language classes. We have shown that, as a community, we are better than that.

We need a strategy to grow our population and RAP designation should be part of it.

Don Curry is president of Curry Consulting and chair of the board of directors of the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre.