Syrian refugee influx putting Saint John YMCA to the test

Saint John may be on the brink of a refugee overload with the local YMCA expecting more than 170 Syrians to arrive in the city by the end of this week.

The next few days will be the busiest yet when it comes to new arrivals, putting volunteers and resettlement agencies to the test.

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Rhonda Kelley says the city's biggest wave of Syrian refugees has YMCA Newcomer Connections staff working the phones, asking for help.  

"We definitely need welcome teams to cover it all and they keep coming, just like they are all across Canada," said Kelley.

The YMCA has committed to settling 250 Syrians by the end of February.

This week some Canadian cities did push "pause," with strained resettlement agencies in Toronto, Ottawa, and Vancouver calling for a slowdown, partly due to a lack of housing.

Immigration Minister John McCallum has said the planes won't stop and suggested New Brunswick could pick up some slack and so could private sponsorship groups. 

"Those who are waiting for privately sponsored refugees during the period in which they wait, would be open to receiving government assisted refugees," said McCallum.  

But private groups are also maxed out. Angie Murphy and Marg Fenwick showed CBC News a rare, four-bedroom, furnished apartment leased by members of their church, waiting for a family that has already been chosen. 

She says making room for another family in this space would not be easy.

"If we knew when our family was coming ... If they could tell us, your family won't be here for a month, then I think yes, maybe that would be worthwhile," said Fenwick.

She says politicians may underestimate what it takes to make this work, for example, it took three cleaning shifts by volunteers to thoroughly clean the apartment. 

"I know because I worked all three shifts and we left at, what, 8:30 that night?" she said.

Currently, dozens of government-sponsored Syrian refugees are waiting in a Saint John hotel, which CBC News has been asked not to identify. 

As the immigration minister pointed out, these are people with no resources in Canada and no connections, just the Y, whose job it is to make them feel at home.