Wellwisher Andrew Harris of Toronto holds a sign welcoming Syrian Refugees at Pearson International Airport in Toronto on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015.J.P. MOCZULSKI
The Canada Council for the Arts plans to make it easier for Syrian refugees to connect with the arts of their new country, through a $200,000 program that will help provide free tickets to live performances and exhibitions.
Council director and CEO Simon Brault, speaking at an event on Friday in a Montreal theatre foyer, said the project would subsidize performing-arts presenters, museums and art galleries who wish to offer free admission to refugees starting on April 1. The council will provide $150,000, he said, with the remaining $50,000 to come from Sun Life.
"We made a rough calculation and determined that $200,000 would be enough for about 8,000 refugees to attend one thing during the year," Mr. Brault said. The details of the ticket subsidy program are yet to be worked out with partners in the arts community, he said.
The council will also send refugee families "welcome packages" of children's books and short films by Canadians, he said. The books will be drawn from a stock of thousands of submissions to the Governor-General's Literary Awards, and the movies will come from the National Film Board.
"It's important to integrate the arts into our national effort to welcome these refugees," Mr. Brault said.
Minister of Canadian Heritage Mélanie Joly, whose north Montreal riding has absorbed more privately sponsored Syrian refugees than any other community in Canada, stressed the need to welcome and to integrate the newcomers. "We want this integration to happen not in two or three generations, but right now," she said. Her department will provide the refugees with copies of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in English, French and Arabic.