Posted on 26 March 2017

An excellent piece of reporting by Jodi Kantor and Catrin Einhorn in the New York Times following the experience of well-meaning Canadians and their Syrian sponsors as they move away from helping their charges through everything towards, hopefully, self-sufficiency. As expected, it’s complicated.

“She and the other sponsors asked themselves: How could this be happening, after they had grown so close to the family? And did they really have the right to know or question how Mr. Hajj used money?

“In reply to his question about welfare, Ms. Karas did not mince words. ‘We didn’t bring you here and give you all this help so that you could become a drain on our government system,’ Ms. Karas told him. She explained that social assistance was a stopgap measure for people in need. “We expected you to go out and get a job and support your family.

“Mr. Hajj agreed not to apply. “’’m a son to these sponsors, who have lived in this country their whole life,’ he said later. ‘They must know for sure what is right and what is wrong.'”

Honest, stark and, importantly, human, this is great work. And, not to take away from this, it should be asked why this is a front page story on the Times rather than a Canadian publication.

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