As Quebec prepares to receive more than 3,500 refugees before the new year, Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre explained how the city is preparing to accommodate so many people at once.

Montreal will be taking in more than 85 per cent of the refugees who arrive in Quebec.

Coderre said the first problem was finding housing for refugees, and that is still being worked out.

The second problem will be educating refugees, including putting children in the school system.

Immigration Minister Kathleen Weil has already declared that school-aged children will be schooled entirely within the francophone school system, and that no children will receive a humanitarian exemption allowing them to attend any English school board.

The third problem is societal integration, which Coderre said cannot happen effectively if refugees end up in a ghetto.

"The other thing that's important for me is you don't want to ghettoize them. You don't want to just put them in a place," said Coderre.

"You know we spoke a lot about Bordeaux-Cartierville or St. Laurent. You don't want to just put them in one place."

In order to integrate refugees, Montreal has hired co-ordinator Michel Dorais, who will be paid $110,000 for a three-month contract.

Refugee hotline: 514-527-6951

The city has also set up a telephone hotline to give refugees assistance.

People who need help figuring things out can call 514-527-6951, seven days a week from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. That line will be in service until the end of 2016.

Montreal is already dedicating a part of its website to refugees: http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/refugies.

"We are putting out together a guide for the new arrivals, that we are translating right now in Arabic," said Coderre.

Coderre said people should expect that integrating refugees will take a long time.

"You don't pull a flower to make it grow faster. Integration is a long process by providing the tools that they need so they can integrate," he said.

More than work and housing

While Dorais is co-ordinating the Syrian refugee response, many other city elected officials have roles to play.

Jim Beis, mayor of the Pierrefonds-Roxboro borough, is running a committee on integration and social acceptance.

CDN-NDG borough mayor Russell Copeman is overseeing housing and education.

Anie Samson, borough mayor in Villeray-St. Michel-Park Extension, is responsible for public security and transport.

"They have to understand what the Quebec culture is. They have to understand how our transit system works. But all that needs co-ordination," said Coderre.