New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant marked World Refugee Day by visiting the Multicultural Association of Greater Moncton and speaking to some of the newly-arrived Syrian refugees.
The province typically welcomes a couple hundred refugees every year, with most coming from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar and Sudan. But they have already surpassed that total with the 1,500 Syrian refugees.
“New Brunswickers should be very proud of what all the communities across our province have done,” said Gallant. “They've gotten together to help Syrians when they need support.”
New Brunswick is the second oldest province or state in all of North America, in terms of highest median age. The average age of a New Brunswicker is 47, and the average age of Syrian refugee is 15.
Justin Ryan of the Multiculural Association of Greater Moncton says that’s a big reason why keeping them in the province is key.
He also says the city's retention rates are better than they were a decade ago.
“When you get a cluster built up, there's that local welcome committee that makes you feel welcome and walks you through the process of integrating, so the more that builds up the more we tend to collect and stay,” said Ryan.
According to Statistics Canada, New Brunswick’s population had seen its numbers decline prior to the refugee’s arrival in December. But 2016 has seen an increase.
“Making sure we have a population that is growing is important for our economy,” said Gallant. “But in this case when it comes to Syrian refugees, it's also the right thing to do.”
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Jonathan MacInnis.
