Canada has chosen to voluntarily take in and absorb 38,000 mostly Syrian refugees in the last year and a half. European countries, in contrast have had little choice but to accept the presence of hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants illegally arriving on Europe's shores and migrating to those countries whose systems of public welfare have been well publicized.

The enormous task of vetting such a huge influx drives many countries to refuse to absorb them, mostly in light of the fact that the migrants and refugees come from a heritage whose religion directs every moment of their lives, and as such, with its own system of justice and traditions, are not readily assimilable into the prevailing culture.

Much aside from the generalized human emotion of suspicion of the presence of 'outsiders', different from an indigenous population that is relatively homogeneous in its social contract, the nation that finds itself the unwilling-but-resigned recipient of a mass of humanity seeking haven faces a dilemma in providing for the newcomers.

The first order of business, shelter and nutrition and medical attention. Social services are strained to their limits. The education system must prepare itself to teach not only the adults the language of communication, but children, assimilating into an entirely new educational environment. Many of the refugees have been traumatized by the effects of conflict they have escaped from, their adjustment to a new social and political landscape becomes a problem.

Social welfare, geared to providing for the needs of a country's inhabitants find themselves challenged to meet the needs of an entirely different type of community, suffering psychological wounds far different than they have been accustomed to dealing with. Add to that the not-insignificant matter of debilitating and threatening physical conditions left untreated, and the formula is there for utter chaos.

The stress and focus of the medical community and local hospitals attempting to focus on a new and vulnerable population whose health has been compromised, from children to adults, strains a system already just managing to provide for the needs of an indigenous population with its own problems relating to mental illness, chronic disease and emergency situations.