Premier Christy Clark says Syrian refugees should be settled across B.C., including in small towns with strong job markets.
But experts caution that settling refugees in remote communities will be difficult and unlikely to happen within the next six months.
In a news conference Monday, Clark told reporters refugees should be settled "around the breadth of the province," citing the high cost of housing in the Lower Mainland as one barrier to refugees settling there.
"There's an abundance of jobs in some regions of the province where they are begging for people to come," she said. "We want to make sure that the refugees that we welcome in British Columbia have the best chance of success possible, and for some of them, that'll mean settling outside the Lower Mainland where they can afford a home, where they can be perhaps in a smaller community where there are plentiful jobs in the job market for people who want to settle there."
But while that could mean the northern part of the province, the director of the Immigrant Services Society of B.C. (ISS of B.C.) says there are few services for refugees here.
Chris Friesen, director of settlement services, said that since 1987, all government-assisted refugees destined for B.C. have been initially settled in Metro Vancouver.
"The issue outside Metro Vancouver, particularly in the interior and northern B.C., has to do with capacity and specialized knowledge," he said, noting almost all refugee services in B.C. are centred in the Lower Mainland.
"Close to 95 per cent of Syrians (settled) to date do not speak English or French, and two-thirds of Syrians have trauma-related medical conditions. Thirty-two per cent are youth under the age of 19, and they're coming from mostly urban cities in Syria.
"All of the necessary supports needed to help them through the initial adaptation and settlement phase are not in place (in the north)," he said.
He added it was "highly unlikely" any would be settled within six months.
On Friday, settlement services like ISS expect to learn how many of the expected 25,000 refugees will be slated for B.C., as well as how many of those will be privately sponsored versus government assisted.
At that point, settlement organizations should have a better idea of where refugees might end up.
Friesen cautioned against looking at newly-arrived refugees as members of the labour pool.
"These refugees are being chosen based on their vulnerability and need for resettlement," he said.
"They're not temporary foreign workers, or to replace foreign workers who are suddenly leaving."
"All of them will eventually enter the labour market, but very few of them will be job-ready when they land at YVR (airport)," he said.
That suggests the fears in an online petition asking for a referendum on resettling refugees to Northeast B.C. are unfounded.
The change.org petition, "Hold a referendum in Northeast B.C. on Syrian Refugees," had been signed by nearly 1,000 people on Tuesday.
MP Bob Zimmer issued a press release Tuesday responding to the petition and calling for relaxation of the "tight timeline" to bring in 25,000 refugees before the end of the year.
Settlement workers on the ground said any Syrians who end up in Northeast B.C. would face challenges.
Kim McPhedran, manager of Fort St. John S.U.C.C.E.S.S., an agency that provides settlement services, said there are real concerns refugees might face discrimination.
"The discrimination part's everyone's biggest worry, in the settlement world," she said.
Her agency provides help with language education, job searches, and housing, as well as assisting employers with integration programs.
The agency is working on a plan to help the community "become more welcoming and inclusive to newcomers."
However, she said there are big gaps in Fort St. John, especially when it comes to mental health services.
"They're going to be coming from very traumatic experiences, and they need that support," she said.
"But we don't have the funding for the specific refugee programs."
She said the group was waiting to see what the influx of refugees might mean for Fort St. John.
"This can be a very big opportunity to create permanency in our community, making it less of a transient community," she said.
"If these families decide to settle and build their lives here, that could help the whole community."
