Syrian Refugee Crisis In Canadian Perspective

There are now over 12 million internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugees fleeing the war in Syria alone (of whom 5 million children), which began with the uprising against President Bashar Al Assad in early 2011, the worst such crisis in the world.

Literally running for their lives, most were seeking temporary shelter close by, hoping the war would end soon and they could go back to their homes and communities and reunite. It did not and unfortunately will not, according to all the experts.

We only see a fraction of the suffering, those that try to make it to Western Europe, in the images that fill our screens daily and touch us. The vast majority we barely hear about, let alone see.

Syrian Kurdish refugees crossing into Turkey ("UNHCR/I.Prickett")

Refugee camps such as this one in Jordan, now a large city and overflowing, provides not nearly enough help and hope, if you can even get to it.

The Zatari refugee "camp" in Jordan

Local capacity to care for them is overwhelmed and cannot keep up. Many seek shelter and assistance outside the region.

Lebanon is bursting at the seams, where refugees represent 25% of the population, mostly taken in by local families throughout the country, rather than held in refugee camps.

The Lebanese equivalent in Canada, proportionately speaking, would be some 9 million refugees (25% of the Canadian population of 36 million today).

We are debating taking in 10 to 46 thousand... over a few years...

We can do better, and must.

According to the UNHCR 2014 Global Trend report, "Global displacement, from wars, conflict, and persecution, is at the highest level ever recorded, and accelerating fast. Worldwide, one in every 122 humans is now uprooted.

"[The] report reveals a sharp escalation in the number of people forced to flee their homes, with 59.5 million forcibly displaced at the end of 2014… The war that erupted in Syria in 2011 has propelled it into the world’s single largest driver of displacement, but instability and conflict in places like the Central Africa Republic, South Soudan, Burundi and Afghanistan is also contribution heavily.

"With huge shortages of funding and wide gaps in the global regime for protecting victims of war, people in desperate need of help are being abandoned. Now, more than ever, the world must work together...”

                                                                                                           "AP/DHA"

Robert M. David teaches international development and globalization at the University of Ottawa and Concordia University