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Shakiba Rastkhadiv and adult her daughters are hoping for enough snow to make their first Canadian snowman.
We were so happy that the weather is snowy and the weather wasn't that cold because everyone says Hamilton is going to be cold," Rastkhadiv said, following an early December snow. We are waiting for another snowfall."
Sponsored by a team of volunteers connected with St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church on Locke Street, the Iranian family - a mother and two daughters, ages 27 and 20 - moved to Hamilton in September after living in Turkey for five years.
Things started to proceed really quickly in February 2020 ... it looked like they were just getting ready to travel," said sponsorship committee volunteer Sarah Wayland. But then the borders closed - COVID hit - and so everything got shut down."
About six months later, restrictions loosened and the family was able to come to Canada.
When we arrived in Canada, we were so hungry and we ate hamburgers and that was so delicious," Rastkhadiv said. And after that we were in quarantine for 14 days."
They kept themselves busy with cooking, exercising and painting for two weeks in temporary housing, connecting with their sponsors over Zoom.
Getting to Canada is just one of the many challenges newcomers like Rastkhadiv and her family face - challenges exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
They're making a home in Hamilton," Wayland said. As with any newcomer family, especially someone in a refugee situation when often they don't have any family or connections here, they need a fair amount of support in the first year."
In December, the team with St. John the Evangelist raised more than $15,000 toward the Rastkhadiv family's expenses for a year - a conservative estimate of about $46,000 - through an auction of donated works of art. They continue to accept donations.
In November, the family moved into an apartment in central Hamilton, furnished by donations and Ikea.
Whether through private sponsorship or government assistance, refugees to Canada typically receive financial support for housing, food and other basic needs for up to a year after arrival.
Even prior to the onset of a global pandemic, newcomers to Canada faced many socioeconomic barriers. The virus is an added burden to bear. Newcomers to Canada have experienced both increased isolation, leading to poorer mental health and access to services, and barriers to finding housing and employment.
I mean, we all struggle with COVID," said Rashed Afif, director of newcomer, community and residential services at Wesley Urban Ministries, a receiving agency for government-assisted refugees.
Then if you go to minorities, add another layer. And then the people who are more vulnerable, add another layer. And now you come to newcomers, add the language barrier as another layer, add the culture as another layer, add the isolation and loneliness as another layer."
Wesley is a first stop for government-assisted refugees in Hamilton. He said in the first few weeks after arrival, documentation, permanent housing and an orientation to life in Canada are top priorities.
From March to July, immigration came to a screeching halt.
There were no flights, so no government-assisted refugees came," he said. We received our first family in July 2020 after COVID started."
Despite a months-long shutdown, Wesley's RAP program received about 300 refugees, the majority of them Syrians and Somali-speakers, in 2020 - similar to totals in previous years.
About half of them arrived between the end of July and end of December.
Access to community and services
Amid COVID, access to services changed dramatically. In order to apply for a SIN, which is required for government benefits like the child-tax benefit, newcomers were required to apply by mail, a slower process, he said.
These families are intensively depending on the child-tax benefit because that money is a great help for them," he said, adding that for newcomers without a salary, benefits can be crucial. The first few months is a real struggle for our families."
When the pandemic hit, staff at the Immigrants Working Centre (IWC), which helps newcomers improve their English, find employment and gain skills to help them succeed in Canada, began reaching out to their clients.
Rosemary Aswani, IWC's manager of front-line settlement services, said that from March to May, IWC had low numbers of new clients, but steady demand.
The number of services that we provided, in fact, increased instead because now there was there was a panic among clients looking for services," she said.
Pandemic-related financial and health stress, as well as increased isolation, has taken its toll on mental health.
A Statistics Canada study found that recent immigrants - those who have been in Canada five years or less - are more likely to struggle with mental health amid the pandemic. More than half of the participants indicated their mental health had worsened after the implementation of physical distancing in the spring.
Just imagine coming to a new country trying to deal with the new culture and then at the same time, now you find yourself alone, nowhere to go, and you couldn't even go to a library," Aswani said. So there was there was an increase in mental-health-related issues, family-related issues, as well."
A 31-year-old lawyer and musician from Damascus, Syria, arrived in Canada in February 2020 - days after the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in the country.
Fifteen days later, everything was shut down," said the lawyer, who has asked to remain anonymous out of fear for his family's safety.
After arriving in Toronto, he lived in Gatineau, Que., then Peterborough, before settling in Hamilton in April at the encouragement of a friend.
This city is full of life," said the lawyer, a Wesley client. And I met my partner here and he's an awesome human being, and introduced me to so many things."
This lawyer said he feels fortunate to have found a home away from home with his partner of six months and his family.
I'm truly thankful," he said. Because they always make me feel like I'm in my own home."
New barriers to work
Economic downturn meant that newcomers - particularly skilled workers - were even more hard-pressed to find work.
The biggest challenge that we saw was employment for economic immigrants, for skilled workers that came in prepared and ready to work," Aswani said. And then that process was interrupted."
She said newcomers don't always qualify for benefits like CERB or employment insurance.
At the beginning, I faced so many issues, like finding a place to live," the Syrian lawyer said.
On top of navigating Hamilton's pricey rental market, he said finding permanent housing while unemployed was difficult - as was finding a job without the right kind of degree. As of early December, this lawyer was still looking for work.
But the biggest challenge, he said, is that people are so slow" in a pandemic-era Hamilton, where email or phone is preferred over in-person, and appointments have to be scheduled in advance.
Especially through this situation, you know, you're not allowed to go and talk to somebody ... if you want to make an interview, it's going to be on Zoom or on the phone or through the email," he said. I like to do it face to face."
Kate McCullough is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: kmccullough@thespec.com