REGINA—With the first airlift of Syrian refugees arriving on Dec. 10 and more expected two days later, former refugees predict the newcomers will soon get on their feet and do well in their new country.
Haidah Amirzadeh was seven months pregnant and couldn’t speak English when she arrived as a refugee in Saskatoon in 1989.
Zahra Darzi fled Iran with her two young daughters after her husband was executed. She claimed refugee status once she arrived in Regina in 1991.
Amirzadeh is now a lawyer specializing in immigration and refugee law who teaches at the University of Saskatchewan. Darzi is an engineer working at Saskatchewan’s government-owned telephone utility.
Both say they came to Canada looking for an opportunity to succeed and both seized it. As Canada prepares to bring in at least 10,000 Syrian refugees by the end of the year and another 15,000 by the end of February, the women say they want to remind people that, while many will come with little, it won’t take long for them to get on their feet.
“I think, especially when somebody has been in such a difficult situation for so long, when they arrive to an opportunity, they really grab onto it,” says Amirzadeh. “Nobody really wants to be a burden.”
Amirzadeh left Iran and spent 18 months as a refugee in Turkey before settling in Canada. She recalls waiting to be selected, interviewed and picked. There was a lot of anxiety about being rejected.
Once in Canada, she learned English and put herself through law school.
“There are a lot of people who come with nothing, with no English, with no support, and then within a few years they become so successful, it’s amazing. They start a business or they get some professional training or, if they were themselves professionally trained, they can convert it to Canadian certification and get going here.”
