Delays frustrate refugee sponsorship group

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This article was published 22/10/2016 (3653 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Killarney’s refugee sponsorship group has joined a growing list of Canadian communities that have waited on families who didn’t arrive by the specified date.

Chairperson Danny Groening said their committee has paid rent since July on a house for an eight-person family from Congo.

The expected arrival for the refugees was mid-July to mid-September. It’s now October, and they have no explanation for the delay.

Groening, a pastor at Killarney Mennonite Church, said the setback doesn’t frustrate him but it’s concerning.

“It’s a family of eight, there’s a lot of moving parts. You wonder, maybe, if somebody’s become ill or isn’t fit to travel?” he said. “For us, if anything, it’s just an inconvenience; for them, this is their lives.”

A new study, released this week by Brandon University’s Rural Development Institute (RDI), examined the challenges of settling refugees in rural Manitoba. One respondent said the federal government — which expedited the arrival of Syrian refugees following the last election and, in the process, put a strain on government resources — needs to provide specific timelines or money to sponsorship groups assuming unnecessary expenses like rent.

In the Boissevain-Killarney case study, one of the four respondents said their sponsorship group wasted four to six months of rental funds waiting for their tenants, a Syrian family of five.

The study didn’t state which community the Syrian family settled in.

Speaking from a conference about migration and refugees in Winnipeg on Friday, RDI director Bill Ashton said the timeline of refugee arrival was a discussion point among attendees across the country.

“While it wasn’t common, it was certainly a part of the conversation,” he said.

Although Groening is not aware of the delay in the Syrian family, he’s hopeful his sponsorship group’s family from Congo — a father, mother, one niece and five children ranging in age from four to 16 — is doing fine. He added that he’s lucky the organization has only been asked to pay half the rent while they wait.

In the meantime, the community’s first refugee family, who came earlier this year, is fitting in nicely.

Two women and a seven-year-old child have settled in Killarney. The pair found mutual support following years of struggle in Liberia and recently as refugees in Ivory Coast.

The women already knew English before arriving in Canada, which removed the language barrier many refugees tend to face.

“It’s a big step in our favour versus a lot of the other settlements in the area where there isn’t that immediate ability to communicate,” Groening said.

The Boissevain-Killarney case study painted a picture similar to many rural communities sponsoring refugees, many for the first time.

There are common successes, including the herculean effort of volunteers, as well as challenges, particularly in language supports and obtaining transportation.

The report found an assumption that refugee settlement would be difficult, considering the limited language programs, employment opportunities and lack of public transportation in rural areas.

Settlement services are also not readily available in the region, so newcomers would need to visit Cartwright or Brandon.

Participants believe finding accessible housing, forming social connections and addressing health care would be the pressing short-term needs for newcomers.

Schooling, health services and the welcoming spirit of neighbours were cited as favourable factors.

Groening raved about Killarney’s settlement experience so far, which was spearheaded after numerous churches and the community came together to gauge interest last fall. As a result, two families were selected to be sponsored.

“Yes, there’s been challenges, but I’ve been telling people it’s been one of the best things I’ve been a part of in my life,” he said.

Tom Guenther, a member of the Boissevain Resettlement Committee, said they laid out the welcome mat to a family of three from Eritrea, who arrived on time in June.

The couple, which has some proficiency in English, takes language classes and is completing their Grade 12 equivalency to attend a post-secondary school.

Their neighbours have welcomed them warmly, holding a potluck for them this summer.

“That was a new word they had to understand, what this new ‘potluck’ was all about,” Guenther recalled. “It was fun learning about it with them.”

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