ESL classes will be crucial for new influx of refugees: Regina Open Door Society

A Regina refugee service says a sudden influx of refugees will require more funding and staff, such as English instructors, but that it can handle settling nearly 800 refugees in the city

That warning comes as Premier Brad Wall is calling on Ottawa to suspend its plan to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada. 

Depending on how that issue is resolved, some 770 refugees could arrive in the city by the end of the year. 

Typically, the Open Door Society in Regina settles about 250 refugees per year. It said the wait list for English classes is already 100 names long and some people can wait up to seven months.

That was the case for both Mohammed Al Moliya and Mohammed Al Assaf. The Syrian men arrived in Canada unable to speak any English then waited nearly seven months to start language classes. 

"I'm looking for a job because I don't like to be sitting at home, but the problem is my language," Mohammed Al Assaf told CBC News through a translator.

• Sask. Premier Brad Wall asks Ottawa to suspend Syrian refugee plan
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How much of a strain the refugees will put on the system will depend on their level of literacy. For Open Door instructor Eldon Irvine, language is one of the most important things you can have.

"It is a shield against people that would take advantage of you," Irvine said. "Landlords, for example, who are not meeting their responsibilities. Against bullies on the schoolyard."

Options to ease the demand includes volunteer-led classes.

"To access services, to protect yourself, to have a future, to have a better life, you need language," Irvine said.

In the meantime, the Open Door Society has put out a call for translators and health-care workers who speak Arabic.

The Open Door Society is asking the federal government for about $200,000 in additional funding to hire staff and accommodate the refugees until April, at which time the agency will renegotiate its total budget.