Samia Madwar, a Canadian of Syrian background, says the need for proper clothing in the cold is among the biggest challenges that potential Syrian refugees may face coming to the far North. Madwar lived in Syria between the ages of 7 and 18 before moving back to Canada. - Simon Whitehouse/NNSL photo

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
As discussions ensue about the possibility of bringing Syrian refugees to the North, at least one resident of Syrian descent says there are some key things to think about when welcoming newcomers.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this week that his government plans to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees from that war-torn country to Canada over the next three months. The fact is, however, that there are very few people from Syria who live in Yellowknife and moving here could be a steep culture shock.

Vishni Peeris, territorial statistician, said according to the Statistics Canada 2011 National Household Survey, there are were only about 10 people who reside or who have resided in the Northwest Territories from the Middle Eastern country.

One person of Syrian descent is Samia Madwar, a 28-year-old magazine editor, who lived in Damascus between the ages of seven and 18. Although she was born in Montreal, she did not return to Canada until later in her adult life and settled in Yellowknife three years ago.

She said she has a strong emotional connection to Syria's refugees and as a result has avoided reporting on the issue for her work as a journalist. She said there are some considerations that could be made when helping people settle more easily in a cold climate.

"When I lived in Syria the coldest it would get would be maybe minus five," she said. "Of course it would depend on where in Syria they are coming from but they haven't seen this (amount of snow). (Challenges) would (be around) learning to layer up and to have access to parkas to longjohns to thermal underwear. All of that is completely foreign and new. The most you would wear there in the winter would be maybe a wool jacket and a thicker jacket."

Madwar said Syrians in many cases speak English but language services to improve the standard of their communication could be helpful in getting people access to work.

"Just finding people who speak Arabic is important because even if they can get by with English, a big part of familiarity is just hearing people speak the language you are used to," she said. "There is no 'Arab society', although the closest might be the mosque (the Islamic Centre)."

She pointed out that not all refugees would necessarily be Muslim as there is a sizable minority of people who are Christian, atheist or of other religions, she said.

An official with Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) said there are no plans to bring refugees to the North as a primary destination.

"There is nobody destined for here as a primary destination, at least not at this time," said Lea Martin, an officer with Citizenship and Immigration Canada. "We could get secondary migrants up here but at this time there is nobody in town at the point where they are sponsoring any of the refugees."

Three main organizations funded by CIC, however, have services in place to provide assistance to newcomers in Yellowknife. One of those organizations is "integration

services" at Aurora College.

Heather McCagg-Nystrom, vice-president of community extensions with the college, oversees that program, which includes daily language instruction for up to 40 newcomers to Canada.

McCagg-Nystrom said her team includes an integration officer, who helps with transitioning newcomers into community by helping with every-day necessities like health-care support, trying to find assistance on how to register children for school, or obtaining banking information.

McCagg-Nystrom said some preliminary discussions on what the refugee crisis might mean for the community and her services have taken place but she added it is too early to foresee what Syrian refugees might need as there has been nothing announced about them settling in the North.

"At this particular time, I can't speculate really on what more we might be able to do in response to the Syrian refugees coming to Yellowknife or potentially to the Northwest Territories," she said. "We don't have information about numbers or things like that. Does it mean that our services might have to expand? Potentially, yes, but those are conversations for another day and are fairly complex."

McCagg-Nystrom said Aurora College works with two other organizations in town to co-ordinate integration services depending on the client.

This makes it different from other urban centres like Whitehorse where there is a "one-stop shop" muli-cultural centre.

The other services supported by CIC include le Conseil de developpement economique des Territoires du Nord-Ouest (CDETNO) and LaFederation franco-tenoise.

Antoine Gagnon, executive of director of CDETNO, said his colleagues have been watching the news for developments in Syria but also says it is uncertain CDETNO will have a role to play in assisting settlement.

"We don't have any indication that there will be Syrian refugees in the NWT, but we are kind of preparing ourselves anyway," he said.

He said he suspects he would be involved in some capacity beyond helping with resume building or assisting in work placement. "We don't know what will happen but that is our job to help them and we receive funding to (provide that service)."