Social media a lifeline for Syrian refugees in Canada

A new study suggests many Syrian refugees arriving in Canada found social media to be the lifeline they needed to navigate an unfamiliar country.

University of Ottawa professor Luisa Veronis said prior to the war, Syria was a fully connected country and social media was popular.

She said when refugees fled, they continued to use those toolsto both keep in touch and learn about what layahead forthem.

"Social media was very useful for them to learn about Canada, even before arriving here," she said on CBC's All In ADay."They turned to it immediately to learn about things like culture, language, geography."

Questions about credentials

Rabea Alriffai, who arrived from Syria as arefugeeand is now a settlement worker, created a Facebook page offeredrefugees information about how to pursuepost-secondary education once they arrived.

"I wanted to make an online platform that helps with providing information and insights from those that have been there before," he said.

He said many of the refugees haveskills and education, and wantto advancetheir careers in Canada.

"People were educated, so they wanted to get their credentials recognized," he said."That was one of the biggest questions we had in the group."

Young refugees leading the way

Veronis said social media also played an important role in allowingyoung refugees to help their families make the transition to life in Canada.

"Often youth are much faster learning the language for example, so they serve as gatekeepers for their parents or grandparents and they had access to social media," she said. "Having this access to information allowed them to communicate and help."

Veroniswill presenther full study duringan event at the Catholic Centre for Immigrants on Thursday afternoon.