An estimated 45 per cent of government-assisted refugees in Ontario have some ag background from their time in Syria, and program organizers think those experiences could be beneficial to the agricultural community.
“Why not try to create a program that would train them in Canadian farming practices and also provide them with some training that would be comprehensive for the acquisition of land or leasing of farmland to work on it or even working for some kind of established working farm cooperatives,” Orlando Ferro, executive director of Quinte United Immigration Services, told CKWS.
The program is targeting Northumberland, Peterborough, Hastings and Prince Edward counties, as those regions are currently experiencing labour shortages. Ferro told Inside Belleville he’d like to see similar programs extended to other provinces and immigration groups.
After one year, the project will be re-evaluated and its results will undergo analysis before being published.