Tomorrow in Ottawa an exciting kick-off takes place as our
Ottawa RedBlacks will kick-off their first CFL postseason game since 1983. But
on October 29, 2015, a group of roughly eighteen people gathered for a kick-off
of a different kind.
On that night, a group of roughly fifteen people gathered in
the living room of Susan Whitley and Peter O’Blenis’ home to drink some wine,
nibble on some food and get to know one another. Yet this was not your average social
soirée; this was the kick-off meeting of our refugee sponsorship group.
Not
everyone part of this group was able to attend and would offer support at a later
time, but amongst those who were there, we represented a very diverse group of
Ottawans, perhaps somewhat heavily weighted on the medical community due to
Susan’s profession as a family doctor.
Our most important guest, however, was Mr. Donald Smith. Don
is the chair of the refugee working group of the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa –
the group that would be our Sponsorship Agreement Holder (SAH).
The Anglican Diocese of Ottawa has been working with
refugees since 1979, with the influx of Vietnam families (the ‘boat people’) following
the Vietnam War. There were about two million Vietnamese refugees who resettled
around the world between 1975 and 1995. Now consider that there are 4.3 million
registered Syrian refugees today.
In the past the sponsoring groups have generally come from
within Anglican or other faith-based parishes. There are now other groups outside
of the diocese who are interested in sponsoring (like us) and looking to the
Diocese for assistance. The Bishop and Arch Deacon have supported this
extension and though now sponsorship groups must sign an agreement with the
Diocese which clearly identifies the role of the Church and the role of the
sponsoring group.
Don provided us with a great deal of information but also an
honest portrayal of the obligations of a sponsorship group. Our sponsorship
agreement includes a financial obligation as well as commitment to a family.
Financially, it’s pretty straightforward: the group must cover the start-up
costs in cash or in kind for the family to have a household (i.e. furnishings,
rent, insurance, hydro deposit, phone, groceries). It was suggested we budget
for $3500 for start-up followed by six months of support (which we’ve currently
budgeted at $2,400 per month (for rent, utilities, phone, internet, transportation, food
and other)). It is anticipated that emergency health care costs (prescription
med, vision care, emergency dental) will be covered by the Interim Federal
Health (IFH) program which Prime Minister Trudeau has suggested he’ll reinstate.
Our commitment to integrating the family into the Ottawa
community is a little less straightforward and will require the help of many. Navigating
administrative requirements of government identification and programs is one
thing, but also middle of the night trips to emergency and community integration
need to be considered.
There are several streams of entry to Canada for privately
sponsored refugees, but our best option certainly was with a Sponsorship
Agreement Holder like the Anglican Diocese. The UNHCR identifies families for
resettlement and refers them to Visa offices worldwide based on specific
criteria. These international visa offices do admissibility and medical checks and
Don stated have historically approved 90% of these referred families. An
updated list of families approved for resettlement. In Canada, it is the
Blended Visa Office-Referred (BVOR) program of the Canadian government who
circulated these ‘lists’ of approved families for resettlement.
As the BVOR lists began to circulate our group, the first heartbreaking
task became a reality – pick one. Circulating
the list and soliciting input was a time-consuming and ultimately ineffectual,
as families were often matched with sponsors across Canada before we had a
chance to collectively discuss. The need is great as is the desire to help but
ultimately, we decided upon just the basic criteria: a family of four (for ease
of transportation) and to leave it to Susan, our group’s coordinator, to choose.
Once a family is selected there is a 48-hour hold followed by 30 days of
waiting until it’s been confirmed that the sponsorship has been approved. We
were advised that with our new government, this process could be significantly
sped up.
We were told by Don that the family will get a
travel loan to get to Canada; they will sign a promissory note with the government
to repay this travel loan on their own. The International Organization of Migration
(IOM) helps arrange travel and gets them started on their journey and IOM staff
will be available along the way. When they land in Canada they become permanent
residents, processed in Toronto.
The group was advised to cover additional
contingency such as private counselling as many are survivors of torture and
would need immediate treatment rather than waiting for publically funded
programs.
We
will be given one weeks’ notice with flight numbers and arrival information. We were told the first few weeks would be busy
and overwhelming especially 9a-5p. It was recommended that the family stay with
a member of the group at minimum the first night they arrive, but at least
until accommodations have been secured. This helps ease into the process and
show them the simplest of tasks like how Canadian appliances and plumbing work!
The family will be responsible for managing their own funds deposited
into their bank account from various government support services and the
sponsorship group. Families with children are eligible for child tax benefit
from the first full month they are here (Form RC66 to apply but takes about three
months for it to start, though is paid retroactively). We would advance them
for these government funds and expect repayment from the family once funds
begin to arrive.
Then we set to divide the many major tasks – many hands make
light work – among our group. Chair, Treasurer, housing, school registration
and ESL training, furnishings coordinating, connecting with Ottawa Immigrant
Services, OHIP and SIN applications, community orientation (shopping, bus,
telephone, etc.) and immediate medical care need coordination.
In addition to setting the above small army in motion, our
next critical step was to get our contract signed with the Diocese, established
a settlement plan, arrangement for police record checks for those working
directly with the family, and begin the housing search.
AS this is posted, we’ve all just learned that our
Sponsorship Group has been matched with a refugee family from Syria. They are
currently in a refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon. The family consists of a single
39-year old mother, her 16-year old son, 10-year old daughter and a 21-year old
male relative. At this time, this is all we know but we are extremely excited
to get our Settlement Plan into action.
(photo credit to Magnuss Wennman)
According to the UNHCR, of those 4.8 million Syrian refugees
worldwide, there are over a million Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Soon there will
be four less.
by Astra Groskaufmanis with notes from Alexa Ives