Refugee claimants are given three meals a day at the YMCA. (PRAIDA)Like many refugee claimants who arrive in Quebec, El-Hashemi spent his first weeks at the YMCA residence in Westmount on the outskirts of downtown Montreal. This graph shows the growth in the number of refugee claimants using PRAIDA's services in the past 13 months. Last month, PRAIDA offered help to 329 people, compared with 143 during the same month a year earlier. But she said many refugee claimants suffer from post-traumatic stress after leaving their homeland under duress, and they benefit from psychological counselling.

Source: CBC News March 08, 2017 22:42 UTC