Refugees who come to St. Albert to restart their lives may get support from the city in the form of free access to some civic services.
Council voted unanimously to have a draft policy for such access prepared for their consideration on Monday night, but not until after some discussion about a potential “double standard” being created.
Coun. Wes Brodhead championed the idea, citing a City of Edmonton policy as an example.
“I believe that St. Albert has a heart for people,” said Brodhead. He noted the federal government has suggested refugees be treated somewhat differently, and pointed out refugees don’t go through the normal immigration process and are arriving from war-torn countries to restart their lives in Canada.
St. Albert is already host to four refugee families who have arrived from Syria, privately sponsored within the community. The city is not one of the assigned destinations identified by the province.
“Would this policy make us a target destination?” asked Coun. Cam MacKay.
Coun. Bob Russell said he was pleased the motion didn’t specify just Syrian refugees, but rather just general refugees.
“There aren’t going to be that many, we won’t be targeted,” he said.
Mayor Nolan Crouse said he’d support the motion to have a policy drafted but wondered if they might revisit the narrow scope of limiting such a program to just refugees.
“I wondered about refugees getting a support that a homeless person isn’t,” Crouse said, adding he also wonders about those who attend events like the community kitchen.
“Some of those folks are there because they need a meal,” he said.
Coun. Sheena Hughes asked Brodhead why he wanted to give free access to refugees and not average citizens, and asked about other immigrants and people who are long-time St. Albert but have hit difficult financial times.
“That’s a double standard,” she said. “I think the policy will be very challenging … people who have been here and made their home here for 20 or 30 or 40 years are just as important as people who have just arrived.”
Coun. Tim Osborne said the motion had his wholehearted support.
“I just see this as an important gesture. It’s something that’s small but meaningful, I hope,” he said, noting St. Albert hasn’t been asked to step up for refugees the way communities that have been designated as receiving centres have.
The brief background report provided by city staff noted that three of the four Syrian refugee families that have arrived have met with the city’s subsidy co-ordinator to look at assistance to access recreation programs.
