British Columbia is to receive 1,100 Syrian refugees in the next 10 days, effectively doubling the number already here.

It will be the largest influx of government-assisted refugees to this province, said Chris Friesen, settlement services director with the Immigrant Services Society of B.C.

Almost half the arrivals will be moved outside Metro Vancouver, which is unprecedented for government-assisted refugees to B.C., because Metro has been the only region of the province with the necessary supports in place.

About 240 will go to Victoria, designated last week as an alternative arrival city for refugees, and another 160 to Abbotsford, Friesen said. About 30 each will go to Nanaimo, Prince George, Kelowna and Vernon, he added.

Friesen and other Immigrant Services Society staff will be on the road early next week, training settlement workers in those cities to deal with the coming arrivals.

“It’s organized craziness,” Friesen said.

Abbotsford Community Services Society began planning for the arrival of Syrian refugees in October, said Manpreet Grewal, the society’s director of multicultural and immigrant services. They had expected to assist privately sponsored refugees being brought to Abbotsford by many church groups.

However, the government-assisted refugees, due to start arriving Monday, pose an additional challenge because they don’t have the financial supports of a community sponsoring group.

Housing is the biggest issue, Grewal said. They Syrian families tend to be large, and the government support rates aren’t enough to rent accommodation large enough to house them, especially in pricey Metro Vancouver.

“We say we are being magnanimous and inviting these people in. Yes, we are bringing them out here and they are safe. But it’s very hard. The rates make it impossible,” she said.

The society has been collecting addresses of likely rental spots, including basement suites, which are more affordable.

Society staff has also been in touch with physicians to help line up medical care for the families, Grewal said.

“We have one physician who said he’ll take on five families at least. He doesn’t speak Arabic but he’s willing to work with interpreters.”

A series of focus groups was also held with other Middle Eastern residents to find out what the Syrians would be likely to need.

“A lot of it is sense of respect, belonging, and sense of safety. A bit of Arabic community around you ... and some (familiar) food.”

Abbotsford’s refugees are to arrive Monday and will be put up in a local hotel as an interim measure, Grewal said. A decision was made to keep the name of the hotel under wraps to protect the privacy of the new arrivals and deter well-meaning residents from dropping off food and clothing at the hotel.

But the hotel management has been fabulous, she said. They are arranging extra beds and mattresses in order to keep families together.

Grewal said Abbotsford has not had a large influx of refugees since a large group of Kosovars arrived around 1999. “About 71 came at that time,” she recalled.

In Metro Vancouver, Immigrant Services Society staff are still struggling to find permanent housing for the 1,048 refugees who have arrived so far. Friesen said 450 people have been housed in the Lower Mainland, primarily in Surrey, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Delta and Maple Ridge. Another 598 are living in hotels or apartment buildings funded by the federal government through the society.

Refugee arrivals to Vancouver and several other Canadian cities were paused last month for varying lengths of time as settlement agencies scrambled to find permanent housing.

The Immigrant Services Society now informs Ottawa about how much space there is in the temporary residence hotels in order to time new arrivals accordingly, Friesen said.

Prince George Mayor Lyn Hall said her city’s Immigrant Multicultural Society is handling the arrival of the 30 government-assisted refugees. He said the Society was very good in helping out three church-sponsored refugee families.

“If the previous three families are any indication, I don’t think there will be an issue (accommodating the 30 refugees),” added Hall, who didn’t have specifics on how the 30 refugees will be helped. “They were taken care of very quickly and have great accommodation, so I anticipate that will be much the same for the ones who are coming now. They’re an unbelievably great organization and do a lot in the community. They’ll do a fantastic job.”

The Liberal government has committed to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada by the end of February,

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