August 12, 2018. Western Head, Nova Scotia. Sponsoring Refugees.

Canada has a system that allows people to sponsor a refugee Family. Our friends Barbara and Gary told us about it two years ago. They along with another couple sponsored a family from Syria. Since then, I have found more about it. And when I had coffee with Barbara, she filled me in the progress of their family. I believe that Canada is the only country in the world that allows private groups to oversee refugees. Up to 5 people can form a sponsorship group, where you are responsible for the funding of the refugee for two years. In order to qualify, you must have funds deposited to pay the expenses of the refugee. Evidently there are many thousands of groups have taken up the task. There are church groups and private groups. In addition, the government also pays for the other refugees in Canada. Barbara and her group were responsible to find housing, employment and supplies. As one would expect, the success of the private groups exceed the government refugees. The husband that Barbara and Gary sponsored knew Gary when Gary worked in Iraq many years ago. Gary spotted the name on a list of people wishing to come to Canada. The husband was an engineer and the wife was a physician. They had one child. That family is doing well. They already could speak English. The husband got a job immediately, due to Gary's connections and the wife is studying to take her medical exams. One year after their arrival, the sponsoring group no longer needed to give money to the family, so it has been a great success. The other couple in the group who live in Halifax had previously sponsored a family but that family struggled with English and employment. And they have 6 children so accommodation is difficult. But they are now doing well enough to pay their own bills. This system of private sponsorship is interesting and successful. I wonder why other countries are not adopting the program?