[Foreign]
Patricia Kamssor has seen it all.
She's a healthcare worker.
So is Abdifatah Sabriye.
They're also refugees.
And they've been invited to come work in Canada.
Among around 120 refugees who have been offered jobs as continuing care assistants in Nova Scotia.
It is a dream come true.
[Music]
They live in the UN's Kakuma Refugee Camp in northwestern Kenya, home to more than 260,000 people.
People who have fled violence in neighbouring African countries.
How long have you lived here ?
14 years
In this same place? In this place, yeah.
That's a long time. Yeah that's a long time.
When he was a teen he fled Somalia with his mother, two sisters and two brothers
after their father and eldest brother were killed in the Civil War.
My dad at that time, he was someone who, who need emergency, emergency medical and he didn't get it, through it, as well as my brother.
Yeah, that motivated me to become a healthcare worker.
Patricia Kamssor came here without her family, separated when violence erupted while she was at boarding school in her home country Sudan
I was young but I was strong, killer strong.
I had to think where to protect myself even if I've not got my family.
So you don't know where they are?
You can't get connection I don't know, actually, I don't know.
Do you know if they're alive?
I even don't know because, I didn't got connect with anyone.
It's been 11 years and she's been working in healthcare most of that time.
And I like helping people, actually I have that heart of helping people.
Kamssor and Sabriye are set to work at a brand new Nursing Home in Mahone Bay on the provinces south shore.
Population just over a thousand.
I gave Sabriye his first glimpse of a blustery Canada
It's winter.
Very snow.
What do you think?
Very good? [Laughs]
You think that looks good? Yeah.
I've never seen it.
The jobs are possible under a new federal program that has taken off in Nova Scotia.
Hi Suzanne.
We contacted Suzanne Lee to find out why.
She's one of the people tasked with finding creative ways to solve the province's shortage of healthcare workers
and she was part of a provincial recruitment team that traveled to Kakuma last fall.
The reality is we need health care professionals and places like Kakuma have the people and the skills that we need.
Some people might be worried that we are somehow taking away from people here
that this is contributing to the so-called brain drain, or the poaching of health care workers, what would you say to people who have those concerns?
Look, great question and one of the things we're always thinking about as we're recruiting health care professionals is how are we doing it ethically right?
and because of of the, their circumstances they, they don't have the opportunities that other folks in their host country may have.
Most of the people who have been selected to come to Nova Scotia
got their experience in health care here in the refugee camp at clinics run by the International Rescue committee
so let's go see what they do here.
Kamssor is here six days a week.
She makes roughly 135 Canadian dollars a month.
Yes, just over a hundred dollars a month.
But it helps buy extra food when the distributions from the world food program run out
In Nova Scotia she'll make around 3,000 a month
Part of what makes this program unique is that people will arrive in Canada as permanent residents
not as refugees and not on temporary work permits
They have to meet the same criteria as traditional economic immigrants
that means demonstrating their experience in health care and a proficiency in English.
My word is to assure the Canadian that the people that they are recruiting from Kakuma Refugee Camp
they are people who have real qualified.
Michael Ikuro is responsible for training here.
He also says he's not worried about losing staff because he has a lineup of others, waiting.
So we are very grateful that you are coming and picking
what I can even ask is it to take many of them, many of them, so that we also have an opportunity to train.
For Sabriye, it's already been a long time since he got that email saying he was in.
I was very pleased at that moment, yeah, getting this opportunity which changes my life.
Going to a country like Canada, which I used to dream it, yeah
that moment I was, I was like I was going tomorrow.
[Laughs]
He laughs at the memory, but the reality has been difficult.
Yeah, it was two years ago, the program was very low, we have to, we have to go step by step
Kamssor has also met all of the requirements.
What do you know right now about when you get to go?
I actually don't know when I will actually go.
They haven't told you anything?
They have not told us anything, I still waiting.
Nova Scotia blames the pandemic for part of the delay and the fact it's a brand new program.
The federal government says it is committed to processing most permanent residency applications linked to this program within six months.
That time is already up for Sabriye, and will be for Kamssor in five days.
Do you believe that you will really get to go?
Actually I cant, I can't predict it because
though I believe that with the long process I've gone through it might happen.
You don't sound sure.
I'm not sure because, you know there's nothing that would make me believe it all, or know that I will go.
Something may come up again.
But they are patient.
They have after all spent half their lives waiting, waiting for the days to pass, waiting for a chance, a path to a new life.
And Kayla's back in Nova Scotia now. Kayla what's happening next with this program?
Well Ian, Canada is planning to expand the program to other sectors where there are shortages, and across the country.
There's also an awareness campaign to make sure the provinces and employers know about it
because the federal government has a goal to resettle 2,000 people this way over the next few years.
But remember, as people like Patricia and Abdi keep waiting, as patient and grateful as they are
Canada has a desperate need for them to get here and start working.
Thanks Kayla