Rowing in the Same Direction

Carl Nicholson, Executive Director of the Catholic Centre for Immigrants, Ottawa, remembers how people joined forces to welcome Syrian refugees and talks about how some of them are adjusting to life in Canada.

Transcript:  Rowing in the Same Direction

Video length: 3:19

Light music plays.

An image fades up of a small child with his family as he waves to the camera.

Text appears: Operation Syrian Refugees – Phase 5

The image fades to black and turns into a blurred background.

Text appears: Rowing in the Same Direction

Screen fades to black and music stops.

Transition to a man speaking to the camera, against a blurred background.

Text appears: Carl Nicholson, Executive Director of Catholic Center for Immigrants, Ottawa

carl nicholson: Early in the game we got together and established Refugee 613.

The image fades to a blurred image and a photo fades in of the “Refuge 613” website that shows a picture of a mother holding her daughter in her arms. The mother is looking up to the sky and smiles, The image then fades back to Carl.

carl nicholson: And Refugee 613, its real focus was to bring everybody who was involved in the Syrian surge together and to talk about how we were going to do it and how we were going to succeed.

So, everybody was rowing in the same direction. I mean, it was a really incredible, exhilarating feeling of a growth in belonging. I got the same feeling when we had the Vietnamese boat people. But I think that’s the thing I remember the most, that, you know, we were overwhelmed by the Syrians, but we were even more overwhelmed by the response of the community. It was just … it was unbelievable. It was … everybody wanted to help in every possible way that you can imagine.

We had probably a thousand people come and say they want to help, and we trained lots of people as sponsors and, you know … it was exhilarating the entire time – the whole year. The other thing that I remember is my incredible staff. Just unbelievable commitment, devotion, and just … they said to me at the beginning of this, “Carl, this is our time to shine.” All right, we’re going to go for this.

You know, we had one young man who came to us, and he announced early on he wanted to be a pilot. He had been … started his training and he is now a licensed pilot. While he was with us, he organized a soccer tournament that had 42 teams. He had to recruit all of the referees and linesmen and the teams, and he was just a joy to be around. He was a very, very good leader. We had another gentleman who came to us and he had gone to university and he went back to Ottawa U. He graduated with a Master’s. Now he’s got a job in Edmonton.

We have another family – husband, wife, two little boys. She is working and studying to be a chef. He has opened his own renovation company because he’s a carpenter. He’s got lots of work, and his only regret … he’s so busy, he’s not spending enough time with his family … you know. We can … I can tell you lots of stories of people who are just doing well … and settling in …

The image fades to 2 children laying down and reading. The image then fades to a father and his 2 children at the dinner table. The image then fades to an airport terminal with refugees walking through with smiles on their faces. The image then fades back to Carl.

carl nicholson: …and … one overriding thing is their … their gratitude to Canada.

The screen fades to black.

The Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada corporate signature along with the copyright message “Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 2020.” are shown on screen followed by the “Canada” wordmark.