Calgary set to welcome new wave of Afghan refugees

Nearly 200 Afghan refugees landed in Canada on Wednesday night, many of whom will soon call Calgary home.

This cohort is part of the 40,000 people the Canadian government committed to, and Calgary is being called one of the best places in the country to call home.

I’m excited to share that another flight, with 184 Afghan refugees, landed in Canada last night! They’re Alberta bound, and will soon be settling Calgary, Airdrie and Edmonton. Welcome home! ????????

— Sean Fraser (@SeanFraserMP) December 15, 2021

“Calgary is a city that has a strong Afghani community and fantastic services in place so people are talking to each other when they come here, they land and the support they receive and the connection they have in the community,” said Fariborz Birjandian, the CEO of the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society and Co-Chair of National Afghan Operation.

Birjandian says 300 Afghan refugees have already arrived in Calgary, and it’s expected another 500 to 700 will call Calgary home in the next six months.

While Wednesday night’s arrivals are destined to settle in cities across Alberta, it isn’t the case for all of them.

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“Once they’re here in Canada they may actually move from city to city, so already we’ve experienced some of the people that have arrived in Toronto that have abandoned Toronto and moved to Calgary for economic reasons, like they can’t afford to live there. And so, they are trying to set themselves up here,” said Kelly Ernst, the vice president of Vulnerable Populations at the Centre for Newcomers.

“House ownership among refugees is the highest in the country so I’m sure that tells a little bit of a story on the success in Calgary, a lot of opportunities, easy city to settle actually compared to larger cities,” said Birjandian.

Two sisters who fled Afghanistan for a better life in Canada are hoping to share their experiences and their next steps in their new home with CityNews in the coming days.