The initiative shown by the City of Surrey and supporting agencies to introduce the Newcomer Employment Week (NEW) program to local immigrants and refugees is welcome and long overdue.
For years, we have created our own underground for refugees and immigrants because of our lack of tolerance and our inability to understand what immigration is about.
While everyone will have their own views on immigration and on refugee policies in this country, the bottom line is that we have immigration and we have refugees and their presence is of vital importance to not only the people in question in this process but also to all of us!
While some of the refugees to our country possess skills and training that will have an immediate impact to our workforce, others possess the ability to do jobs that YOU might not want to do.
Any redneck out there that has a problem with that best not go to your local fast food restaurant or Timmy’s, because there is a good chance that those that you loathe have made you that Big Mac or perhaps poured you a double-double.
These members of our society simply want to work, plain and simple, because for some of them, working at a company like McDonald’s or Tim Horton’s is a welcome reprieve from the crap that they had to deal with in their country of origin.
Having these refugees and immigrants documented also allows us to tax those earnings, which helps our bottom line. I bet some of you never thought of that one.
So before you cast out the unwanted due to ignorance, do yourself a favour and realize what these people can offer not just themselves but our country; the opportunity to grow and succeed while being welcomed.