Young Syrian man shot as a child while fleeing civil war denied N.B. disability benefits

A Syrian man who was shot as a child has been denied disability benefits in New Brunswick.

Ayman Othman’s family remembers the five-year-old was holding a bowl of noodles when it happened.

The boy’s entire family, including his grandparents and an aunt, was in a van trying to leave the Syrian city of Aleppo in 2012, fleeing the civil war that had erupted a year earlier.

Ayman’s older brother, Mohammad, who was seven at the time, remembers seeing tanks, military personnel and bodies strewn throughout the streets of the city.

Then he recalls bullets coming from everywhere “like rain.”

Ayman was one of four family members shot. While everyone survived, the bullet hit Ayman just below his heart and landed in his back.

He was in hospitals in both Syria and Turkey for months, but Ayman has never regained the use of his legs.

The family spent years in a refugee camp in Turkey before their application to come to Canada was approved.

“We apply in 2017 to come to Canada and then in 2021 after a long wait, we was really happy,” Mohammad says. “We was hearing Canada’s the best country. Canada’s the best country to take care of like, Ayman’s situation.”

‘Who will help Ayman?’

Mohammad, who has learned English since arriving in Fredericton four years ago, translates much of the family’s story, including Ayman’s.

Ayman speaks little English but says he has dreams. He graduated from high school last year and would like to pursue a post-secondary education.

But Ayman has met many obstacles since turning 18, Mohammad explains.

While Ayman receives $200 per month through the Canada Disability Benefit, he hasn’t received any provincial disability benefits since becoming an adult a year ago.

“As a normal person who can walk, me, I can do whatever I want, I can work ... I don’t need help from government. I don’t need help from anybody. But who will help Ayman?” says Mohammad. “If Ayman don’t have my parents now, he’s a homeless in the street.”

Hannah Hines, a transition planner with Ability New Brunswick who’s been working with the family for two years, says Ayman’s applications to the province have been met with bureaucracy — something she sees other newcomer families experience too.

“Disability support service navigation is difficult to navigate for everybody, every Canadian, every individual. And when you add the language barrier on top of things, it definitely adds more work on to things and complicates matters,” she says.

“And it’s an entirely new kind of frame of reference for the types of government supports and systems that we have in Canada, that they don’t have the kind of basic knowledge of coming from Syria or Turkey.”

Hines says her job sometimes requires her to spend hours with newcomers, setting up their Canada Revenue Agency profiles and walking them through paperwork.

And while Hines has tried to help them apply for provincial benefits, she’s at a loss as to why they’ve been denied so far.

“It’s interesting to me that he is currently receiving federal disability support through the Canada Disability Benefits, but he’s not receiving provincial disability income supports,” she says

The Department of Social Development did not offer CTV News Atlantic an interview on the issue, but said in a statement that New Brunswick’s disability support services differ from federal benefits, due to legislation, assessments and eligibility.

“Because of these structural differences, the two benefit programs operate separately at this time,” the emailed statement read. “All New Brunswickers are offered access to the same programs and services regardless of country of origin, and the department does not maintain caseloads or programs specific to newcomers.”

‘He’s in jail, this home is his jail’

With the help of Hines, the family of 10 has secured affordable housing.

But it’s not accessible, and they cannot afford to build a ramp, so for now, Ayman stays inside most of the time.

Mohammad says it’s difficult and dangerous for the family to lift him and carry him down the stairs, outside and into their vehicle, especially in the winter. But they do it as much as they can, for Ayman’s wellbeing.

Meanwhile, they’re confused and frustrated by the system they say once gave them hope.

“Syria, there was the war where people has been killed there. But if they see a man in the wheelchair there, they will feel for them,” Mohammad says. “Here in Canada, Canada, the place, the dream of each person in the world to come to this country, he don’t see any of those things. Nobody is looking at him, is there?”

Mohammad is a Canadian citizen, and Ayman is working toward getting his citizenship too.

His dream remains to be able to leave his home independently, learn how to drive, and get accepted to a post-secondary program, but says he needs a little support to get there.

For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.