Peel’s Welcome Centre offers immigrant students a soft landing

From a Syrian refugee child to the son of a Delhi stock trader and a fee-paying German teen, students from wildly different backgrounds flocked Tuesday to a Mississauga reception centre where the Peel District School Board boasts it “welcomes the world.”

Over the course of the day some 100 students passed through the Elm Dr. Welcome Centre to sign up for school and have their math and English skills measured, while their parents learned about practical things such as lunch boxes, gym shoes, and where to find a doctor.
The Welcome Centre’s bustle of families, teachers and settlement workers, many of them multilingual, presents a rare snapshot of the landing pad Canada offers children of the world.

“We don’t like to keep any child out of school longer than necessary, so we have teachers and support workers on site to assess them as quickly as possible so we can give them ‘the slip’ — the sort of golden ticket that means they can go to school here,” said Louise Clayton, coordinator of Peel’s three student welcome centres.

Omar Aljabari, 6, from Jordan, and his 8-year-old brother Ezeldeen did arithmetic tests in an airy classroom with the help of a teacher who assessed their skills. Their father, Rani Aljabari, has moved the family to Canada “because life here is better than in Jordan,” and settlement worker Nora Hachemi suggested ways they might find help for their 2-year-old daughter who has medical problems.

Down the hall, 16-year-old Naman Anand from Delhi struggled with trigonometry on a test designed to assess his skills in math and English — “it was a little more advanced than the trigonometry we did in India.” His father, Jasdeep Anand, a financial trader in derivatives, became a Canadian citizen in the mid-’90s but moved to Delhi, where he spent 20 years, before deciding to return here “because I admire Canada; it has such compassion for those who are less fortunate.”

In recent months, staff have helped refugee children fleeing the very turmoil Syrian 3-year-old Alan Kurdi was trying to escape when he drowned last week and washed up on a Turkish shore.

“We had a Syrian mother come in with her three children; they had been trying to flee their home in a taxi when she heard the driver saying he might rob her to steal her passport, so she ran out of the cab with her children in her bare feet,” Clayton recalled.
In Peel, both immigrant children and fee-paying international students are on the rise — the board processes some 5,000 newcomer children a year, said Clayton. The Toronto District School Board has accepted an average of about 7,000 students from outside Canada each year over the past four.

While the number of fee-paying students in the TDSB and across Canada is rising, thanks to rigorous recruiting — an international student pays $12,000 a year tuition for elementary school and $14,000 for high school in the TDSB — Toronto’s ranks of immigrant students are slipping as new Canadians seek more affordable housing in the cities around Toronto.

To Canada from Delhi

Jasdeep Anand is not coming to Canada for a better job or a safer home; in fact, his standard of living will slip by moving to Peel Region from Delhi, where he has raised a family for 20 years. But what he prizes more is the “Canadian ethos; the compassion of both the government and the people.”
Son Naman, 16, admits he will miss his friends and relatives, but says: “I’m excited for this new life. India is a very good country but it’s so crowded, even the shopkeepers don’t have time to pay attention. If you want something in life you have to leave something behind.”

A journey from Jordan

Even though Rani Aljabari’s new job in Canada means driving a truck 12 hours a day, the Palestinian says it’s better than the 16 hours a day he worked in Jordan, now that he and his wife have three young children.
“I have goals, and it’s my responsibility to help build Canada now,” he said as sons Omar, 6, and Ezeldeen, 8, were assessed Tuesday in math and English. The boys will start school in Peel on Wednesday.

Some tips given to parents new to Canada:

• When the temperature drops below about 12C, your child will need a hat, coat, boots and mittens. Below minus-10C and they’ll need a snowsuit, sweater and scarf.
• Family activities can help kids learn; visit an art gallery, take them to the local library, play games such as Scrabble to improve spelling skills, have your child help write grocery lists.
• Get maps of streets and public transportation routes near your home.
• Peel schools have two “nutrition breaks” a day so children can eat and go outside. Give your child enough food for each break.
• Learn about your child’s school council, which is for parents, and get involved.
• Check out the Ontario government’s website about education at www.edu.gov.on.ca
• In Canada, schools encourage parents to help children learn outside school. Have your child read menus, look at the newspaper, read recipes for you as you cook. Read books with your child as often as possible. Give your child notebooks to write in.