The Carleton administration has indicated plans to address the Syrian refugee crisis at an institutional level, although an announcement has not yet been made about these plans.
Carleton media relations officer Steven Reid said an announcement would likely be made in the next week. He was unable to provide details about the contents at this time.
On Sept. 9, the World University Service of Canada (WUSC) reached out to Canadian university presidents to invite their institutions to increase support for the Student Refugee Program (SRP), according to Stephanie Needham, WUSC media relations.
The SRP combines education and resettlement by sponsoring refugees to attend Canadian universities. Needham said WUSC currently sponsors dozens of refugees each year through the SRP at over 80 universities, colleges, and CEGEPs across the country.
“We’re looking at this as a long-term solution for the global refugee crisis, but also looking at what we can do in the immediate term to support more Syrian students specifically,” Needham said.
Carleton was the first university to sponsor a refugee through the SRP in 1978 and has remained a partner of WUSC. Needham confirmed there has been communication between WUSC and Carleton about expanding the university’s commitment to the program.
“Each institution requires a unique approach. We don’t have a strategy that will work with every institution, but we do believe that every institution has a role to play,” she said.
With the groundswell of support by Canadians for Syrian refugees, Carleton political science professor James Milner said the university has two roles it could play in addressing the crisis.
One of the roles is a humanitarian one by responding to the “immediate human need,” Milner said. This could include fundraising for refugee aid or resettling refugees fleeing conflict in the region.
The second role is to demonstrate “intellectual leadership.” Universities are centres of expertise and should encourage reflection about what an effective response to the current crisis could be, Milner said.
Although the focus now is on refugees fleeing the Middle East, Milner said the community must not forget the millions of other refugees around the world.
“This is something that requires a very comprehensive and a very global response,” he said.
Giving refugees the opportunity to be resettled in Canada and attend Canadian universities could have an important impact, according to Abdulrahman al-Masri, media coordinator for the Carleton local committee of WUSC.
“Vulnerable students around the world lost their education chances and opportunities because of war, conflicts, and poverty,” he said.
Al-Masri was a Syrian refugee in Jordan before being sponsored by WUSC in 2014, and he said coming to Carleton has allowed him to pursue an education.
The current refugee crisis demonstrates a “huge failure” on the part of the international community, Al-Masri said. He added Canadian organizations such as universities must begin to take the lead by assisting refugees in need.
