The Moderator of the General Assembly has written a letter to the prime minister calling for Canada to “do more to respond” to the crisis facing Syrian refugees.
“The Church is concerned that Canada is not playing its traditional role in responding to UNHCR resettlement appeals, and thus is not fulfilling its international responsibilities,” Rev. Karen Horst wrote on behalf of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. “Rather, the government is putting too much of the onus of the Canadian response on to private sponsors.”
The PCC is a Sponsorship Agreement Holder with Citizenship and Immigration Canada. This means Presbyterian groups can raise the necessary funds, take on the required responsibilities and sponsor refugees to the country.
The government has pledged to accept 11,300 Syrian refugees to Canada by the end of 2017. According to the minister of immigration about 2,300 have arrived. The vast majority have been privately sponsored, with the rest sponsored by the government or admitted under the Blended Visa Office Referred Program, which essentially means the government and a private sponsor split the cost to resettle refugees referred by the UN’s refugee agency.
“Many Syrians in Canada are contacting our national office seeking private sponsorship for their relatives overseas. Some are members of Presbyterian churches; others are simply looking for any organization that will help,” Horst wrote. “Canada must implement special measures to allow for immediate reunification with family members in Canada. Syrian Canadians should not have to wait while their relatives perish or remain in dangerous and unsettled situations overseas.”
Horst’s letter was spurred by a recommendation approved at General Assembly in June which asked the Moderator and members of the church to “write to the Government of Canada urging that the number of government-sponsored refugees be increased to, at a minimum, match the number of privately sponsored refugees.”
The Canadian Council of Refugees also reiterated its calls for action after a photo of Alan Kurdi, a Syrian child found dead on a beach in Turkey flooded social and traditional media around the world.
The non-profit coalition’s calls include “flexible measures (such as Temporary Resident Permits) for Syrians with family in Canada” and a commitment by the government to provide at least 10,000 government-funded spaces for Syrian refugees to be brought to Canada immediately.
There is no cap on the number of Syrian refugees that can be sponsored to Canada by Presbyterian congregations.
