Moncton man from Syria says refugees need safe place to live

Jalal Almhanaunderstands the fear people feel about Syrian refugees since the attacks on Paris, but says people need a safe place to live and he believes New Brunswick should welcome as many Syrians as possible.

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Almhana, who is now a Canadian citizen,left Syria in 1974 to study in France. In 1989, he came toMonctonto work as a computer science professor at the University ofMoncton.

He says the sad reality is that Syrian families, including his own, are now spread around the world.

Almhanahas a cousin in Prince Edward Island and family in France, but his sister and her family still live near Damascus, where bombs fall every dayand have been for two years.

"My sister was scared to death at the beginning and she couldn't sleep," Almhana said in an interview Wednesday on Information Morning Moncton.

"After yearsher philosophy is, 'I can die in my home, in the street or at work.' So that's the situation we are living now."

He has tried to bring his sister and other family members to Canada but has been unable to since they aren't refugees.

He was also unsuccessful in getting a temporaryvisa for her so she could wait for the situation in Syria to improve.

"That door was shut," he says.

Almhana says his cousinwas lucky and wassponsored by a church to come to Canada.

"He is an engineer with three young children and Prince Edward Island is happy to have them,"he says.

Concerns understandable

In the wake of the attacks in Paris, Almhana says safety concerns arenormal and understandable.

However, he says, it is unfair and inaccurate to lump Syrian refugees in with the terrorists.

"We have to remember these refugees, they suffer from violence, they are not violent themselves," he says.

"We have to remember most or all of the people who did this act in Paris, they are not Syrian."

Many people on the streets of Moncton said this week they still support Canada's plan to bring 25,000 refugees to the country by the end of the year with1,500 expected in New Brunswick.

However others, such asBlake Hodder, were having second thoughts.

"I think the government has to think long and hard about it. It's not a decision that I think we need to make overnight. There's a lot of things to consider and we really need to think about it," Hoddersaid.

"There definitely are some who are truly trying to flee, I believe that and yes I would like to see them be able to get out, but at the same time we need to be careful on our part."

Almhanasays the problem is so hugethat delaying the arrival of refugees to allay those concerns is not that big of a deal in the grand scheme ot things.

"If there is concern about how fast we can bring them well we can wait,"he says.

Immigration an opportunity for New Brunswick

"I feel like they take a lot of the jobs that are available to us Canadians," he said.

Almhanasays Canada should look at immigration as an opportunity, particularly in New Brunswick where the population is declining.

"I go to my class, 70 of our students are international, so we don't have people [in New Brunswick], we don't have children,"he says.

The questions of how quickly Syrian refugees will arrive or what jobs they will be able to find are important, but Almhana says for him the more important question is how peace will be returned to the country where he was raised.

"I grew up and I saw Canada as a peacemaker and I want Canada to come back to the table and play [the] mediumrole as a peacemaker," he says.

"The Syrian people need peace like everyone.The refugee should not suffer another kind of stigmatisationbecause really they are victims."