Rabaa Biry, who pursued law in undergraduate studies, fled Syria's civil war for Turkey in 2015, where she completed a master’s degree in political science and international relations. She enrolled in Talent Beyond Boundaries amid rising anti-Syrian sentiment and a lack of social services, and got her big break in Canada this past April.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
Rabaa Biry could teach a master class in perseverance.
When civil war erupted in her home country of Syria in 2011, Ms. Biry was a university student who dreamed of becoming a lawyer. Determined to complete her education, she spent three years attending classes at Damascus University’s faculty of law despite the bombs and military forces in the streets.
Ms. Biry, who speaks English, French and Arabic, graduated with her bachelor’s degree. But the worsening violence forced her to flee to Turkey in 2015. There she completed a master’s degree in political science and international relations. A rising tide of anti-Syrian racism and a lack of social services, however, made it impossible for her to put down roots.
That’s when Ms. Biry enrolled in Talent Beyond Boundaries, a program that matches displaced workers with jobs at businesses around the world. This past April, Ms. Biry got her big break in Canada. The 32-year-old single mother, who has a son with special needs, landed a job as a senior business immigration analyst at global law firm Fragomen in Toronto. It’s a first step toward her long-term goal of becoming a lawyer.
“When we think about refugees, we have to think about their dreams too,” Ms. Biry said in an interview.
Ms. Biry is far from alone. As of May, there were more than 120 million people around the world who were forcibly displaced because of persecution, conflict, violence or human-rights violations, according to the United Nations. Of that total, 43.4 million are considered conventional refugees – with most originating from Afghanistan, Syria, Venezuela, Ukraine and Sudan.
As the global refugee crisis rages, so too does the social and political backlash against migrants in the West. The resentment is pronounced in the United States, Britain and European Union countries where migration has become a wedge issue at the polls.
Tensions are also flaring in Canada, which has traditionally taken a progressive approach to refugee resettlement. The affordable-housing crisis and climbing unemployment rate are fuelling this societal resistance toward bringing more migrants into the country.
Canada, though, cannot afford to be myopic about migration. Shutting our borders to newcomers would cause the national economy to collapse. A shortage of skilled labour is expected to worsen over the coming years. Credentialled refugees like Ms. Biry could help fill that talent gap.
That’s why it is up to our business leaders to set the record straight. Executives and corporate directors can succeed where governments have failed: dispelling myths and ensuring that migration policy is aligned with business needs.
“They benefit when migration is well managed,” Amy Pope, director-general of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said in an interview. Geneva-based IOM is an intergovernmental organization that is part of the UN system. “They can make the case in ways that the UN or civil society can’t.”
Amy Pope is director-general of the International Organization for Migration, part of the United Nations system. Her mandate includes building more private-sector partnerships to better manage migration in countries around the world.Melissa Tait/The Globe and Mail
Ms. Pope, who previously served as senior adviser on migration to U.S. President Joe Biden and as deputy homeland security adviser to former president Barack Obama, took the helm at IOM last October. Her mandate includes building more private-sector partnerships to better manage migration in countries around the world.
Her office already has buy-in from large multinational corporations. Some provide donor support. Airbnb ABNB-Q, for instance, offered housing for Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war. Others lend their expertise: Amazon AMZN-Q is supporting the prepositioning of supplies for humanitarian responses. Companies like Walmart WMT-N, meanwhile, focus on hiring displaced workers, she said.
IOM is also fielding hiring inquiries from businesses that operate in Canada. During a recent trip to Toronto, Ms. Pope participated in a corporate roundtable discussion that included representatives of more than 25 companies.
Some of those businesses, including Saint-Gobain, Colas, Purolator, Lafarge and Fragomen, are already participating in a new partnership launched by the France Canada Chamber of Commerce (Ontario), or FCCCO, this past February.
Project Starfish – the initiative’s name is a nod to returning stranded starfish to the sea – is working with the IOM to provide companies with access to globally displaced talent. Migrants, meanwhile, benefit from job opportunities that allow them to immediately contribute to the Canadian economy. The workers, who originally hail from Djibouti, Costa Rica and Mexico, only arrive in Canada after securing a job and a work permit.
“Virtual Interviews and recruitments are ongoing by companies,” said Riva Walia, founding managing director of FCCCO, adding that 52 candidates were being considered for various jobs as of last week.
Ms. Walia and Sanjay Tugnait, president and chief executive of Fairfax Digital Services, are also conducting a roadshow to solicit more corporate participation in Project Starfish.
“Canada is the best in class when it comes to matching work force needs with a migration policy,” Ms. Pope said. “And that gives Canada a competitive edge compared to other countries. That will become more and more relevant as we see these demographic trends become more and more acute.”
Still, Canada could do more to enhance protections for migrant workers who are vulnerable to exploitation and create additional employment programs in a variety of economic sectors.
“There’s a housing shortage, you need construction workers to build the houses. But the mechanisms for attracting that less skilled labour aren’t there in the same way that they are for agriculture,” she said.
Ms. Pope said politicians that focus too much on border enforcement are missing the bigger picture: “The danger of that is it could harm the economic development and prosperity of countries that need migration for their future.”
She added: “Half the world is voting this year. Migrants don’t vote. It’s very, very easy to lay all of the problems that a society has at the feet of migrants.”
It is a sentiment echoed by Ms. Biry, who rightly points out that refugees are often educated professionals with international work experience and language skills.
Frankly, after overcoming unimaginable hardships, many, including Ms. Biry, have an unmatched work ethic, too. Pigeonholing refugees as unskilled labour does a disservice to migrants and Canada alike.
“Sometimes refugees can do things even Canadians cannot do,” Ms. Biry said. “We can be mentors. We can learn something and teach something, too.”