Syrians continue to empty their homes in unbelievable number, reshaping the surrounding countries that house the majority of refugees, and those farther afield from Germany, to Sweden, to Canada.

The Syrian crisis is changing the world, and there are competing visions for how the shifting sands will finally settle. The parochial view anticipates exported conflict, and parallel societies where the divide falls between refugees and everyone else.

Canada has something different in mind, and Canadian thought leaders presented the alternative view at an Economic Club of Canada gathering last week.

“The facts point to a different truth,” said John Stackhouse, a senior vice president in the office the CEO of RBC Royal Bank, Canada’s largest employer.

Instead of a problem, diversity is an opportunity. Canada is a society that thrives on diversity.

Canada’s immigrant population now outnumbers all provincial populations except for Ontario and Quebec, and in Toronto, over half the population is foreign born. The incoming Syrian refugees – 25,000 by the end of February 2016 and more by year’s end – are the future leaders of this country. They are preceded by refugees like Michaëlle Jean and Adrienne Clarkson, two governors general and prolific Canadian ambassadors, as well as Maryam Monsef, whose family immigrated to Canada as refugees from Afghanistan when she was a child and who is now a federal Cabinet minister.

These exceptional women are the faces to the numbers. We know, Stackhouse pointed out, that newcomers are innovative. They have to be. They are three times more likely to hold a PhD than their Canadian counterparts. They are more likely to open a business. Their children are exceptional too, preforming even better than their parents.

Significant as the economic benefits are, the social benefits are even greater. The diversity of culture, education, experiences, and language that immigrants and refugees bring to a new country all contribute to diversity of thought – perhaps the only true silver bullet of any prosperous society.

How Syrian refugees are reshaping Canada

Redefining Canada’s foreign policy

Photographs of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau greeting refugees at Canadian airports moved quickly around the world. Immigration Minister John McCallum said he met Syrian children in Jordan who spoke about those photos. And if children saw it, others did too, said McCallum. Compassion is a powerful new brand for Canadian foreign policy.

Building a social infrastructure legacy

Stress on systems means that the best and worst of the system shines through, which is why crisis creates opportunity to do things differently. Canada’s response to the Syrian refugee crisis has forged an overdue social infrastructure that will have lasting positive impact beyond Syrian resettlement.

There is a huge opportunity in front of us, said Wendy Cukier, vice-president of research and innovation at Ryerson University.

“This is an opportunity for Canada to lead in social innovation, to lead in a different way,” Cukier said, pointing to new networks, services, and collaboration among unusual suspects from companies to settlement agencies to universities. Strengthening this infrastructure is key, Cukier argued, and means “we can respond to other communities and other crises that emerge.”

The new social infrastructure is pervasive. “Lifeline Syria has made Toronto and Canada a very different place in the last little while,” said Joe Mihevc, a Toronto city councillor who is himself part of a group sponsoring a Syrian refugee family.

A citizen-led initiative to support private sponsorship in the Greater Toronto Area, Lifeline Syria is channeling a groundswell of citizen interest into private sponsorship of refugees. Other innovations have followed, like the Syrian-Canadian start-up not-for-profit Refugee Career Jumpstart Project, filling a gap between refugee arrival and employment by conducting skills assessments and job matching in Toronto’s major hubs of arrival like hotels.

This work is not over. One of the outstanding challenges facing Canadian communities is matching needs to assets. Whether it’s a fridge, a house, a job, or a volunteer’s time, ongoing solutions are required to connect the outpouring of support to critical needs of Syrian newcomers.

Canadian identity

The way Canadians view their role in the Syrian refugee crisis has shifted under the responsibility of resettling as many as 35,000 people by the end of 2016. The shift is guided by a new tone set by Canada’s political leaders.

The attitude is not a grudging one of touting Canada’s generosity. It is a humble one of striving to do better, to position Syrians for the best shot at success in their new lives.

“The crucial issue has always been: How well will we receive them? That’s our job number one,” said McCallum. “It is a national project … to welcome, integrate and empower these new Canadians.”

As with all past waves of refugees to Canada like the Hungarians, Vietnamese or Ugandan Asians, this one will reshape the country in remarkable ways.

Mihevc said that while the Syrian newcomers become a little more Canadian, “we’re going to become a little more Syrian.” What a bright future for Canada.