Kick Off!

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