Short-term problems for immigrants are increasingly becoming long-term problems

Zakaria Omar was born in Canada, but the 12-year old knows how its feels to be young and that too in a new place. He lives in an apartment building in Donald Street with his family. The place comprises of high population of new immigrants who live with low incomes. In the community room of the building, he regularly sees the struggles of young refugees and immigrants. Initially, Zakaria used to go to the homework club over there to seek assistance in his French assignments as none of his parents speak French. But now, he goes there to be with those people and help them.

Zaki said that some kids there do not understand English properly and same goes with their parents, so he just helps such kids with their homework. He said that these people are new and are not used to living in Canada, so, more attention needs to be paid towards them.

The point of this helpful young boy is also accepted by a report from the Social Planning Council which was released last week. With the help of the 2006 Census data, the report—Immigrants’ Economic Integration: Successes and Challenges—found that Ottawa faces the risk of losing part of its immigrant population to small cities due to difficulty faced by immigrants and refugees. The report stated that what were earlier short-term struggles for immigrants are fast becoming long-term struggles, like finding proper housing based on their needs and budget, finding jobs and finding the way to the health system.