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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1979-08-08, Page 6ep 4,1M VbpUm Advance -T MS. Avg" s, 119'f9 ndoch'l'nese refugees finding new tm if it is a homes They are fatigued and fright- family from Indochina. But while government or a group of at least erred- Many d them are still refugees can be identified by visa five people who are Canadian '..' ....d, not so much by jet officers from national or ethnic citizens or permanent residents t�membraote of sponsorship of unnamed and who are 18 years or over. W6 as by a groups, things past — the.. �..., Jed refugees of a particular religious boats and camps, the missing denomination is not possible. relatives—and thoughts of the SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM h tore in a completely foreign As of June 30 84 applications land. They are Canada's newest from prospective group sponsors of ref!sg"c, the In- had been received at the Canada g.—.up dochioese. Employment and Immigration i During the first six months of Commission r e g i o n a l i this year 1,673 Indochinese headquarters in Toronto. Seventy refugees arrived in Ontario. of these were approved, five were Toronto is the destination for the refused and others are being held largest number, 688; Ottawa is pending further information. next with 396. Other Ontario During the first two weeks of cities that are now home for these July 63 applications from refugees are London, 105; prospective sponsors were Hamilton, 99; Sarnia, 37; Guelph, received. Also during that time 17 34; Cornwall, 23; Oshawa, 21; families (48 persons) arrived in Kingston, 20; Waterloo, 17; Canada destined to 12 sponsoring Niagara Falls, 15; St. groups. Catharines, three, and Peter- As of the end of June 75 ap- borough, one. plications for some 550 people C. A. (Aussie) Allen is the had been received from mem- supervisor of the Immigrant bers of organizations who signed Settlement Area at the Canada letters of agreement for group Employment Centre in Toronto. sponsorship. Fifty-five refugees He and his staff of seven—four destined to 10 different con - counsellors and three recep- stituent groups in Ontario tionists with language ex- arrived as of June 30. pertise—help settle refugees in During the first two weeks of the .city. July 51 additional applications Mr. Allen or members of his were received and another 17 group meet the refugees at either persons arrived destined to three the Toronto International Airport sponsoring groups in Ontario. or Union Station. After Ontario Region has proposed welcoming them they are helped that at total of 199 families of to collect their baggage and government-sponsored refugees transported to temporary ac- per month be located in towns commodation in a downtown and cities across the province. hotel. The settlement staff makes The bulk of these, 75 families per sure the refugees' basic needs month, will locate in Toronto, are looked after for the with 14 families per month going _ remainder of that day and night. to Oshawa and 10 going to each of The next day he and members Kingston, Ottawa and Peter - of his staff return to the hotel and borough. escort heads of families to the In this area Goderich is employment centre where they scheduled to receive three are registered for employment. families per month; Kitchener, Such matters as financial needs, eight; London, seven; and Owen food, clothing, health and per- Sound, one. manent accommodation are also In addition to the families plans discussed. are being made to locate two Usually a refugee family is individual persons in Guelph established in permanent ac- each month and 10 in Kitchener. commodation within two to three QUESTIONS & ANSWERS weeks. During this period other Following is a list of the family members of working age questions most commonly asked are brought to the centre for by potential sponsors: registration and various training programs, including language Q: Who may sponsor'. training, are discussed. A: Either a legally incorpor- "In other words," Mr. Allen ated organization (service club, said, "everything possible is church, municipality), a con- done, from explaining how stoves stituent group of a national or re- operate and how to shop to using gional organization where the public transportation. This type organization has signed a Letter of assistance helps the refugee of Agreement with the federal adapt more quickly to his or her new environment. "Our experience has been that Q: What are the obligations of the sponsoring group or organi- sations" A: Material assistance such as accommodation, furniture, 1V1y7ciao.0 Cff�'t3, fowl elothinQ ncidental expenses and health care. The federal government has reached an agreement with the Ontario Ministry of Health whereby refugees are eligible for immediate OHIP coverage but it is the group's responsibility to ensure that they are registered and that necessary premiums are paid. General orientation — in addition to meeting the family upon arrival, the sponsoring group will assist the family in d justing to its new country lid community by advising its m� bers of the various services available and by helping them find employment and giving moral support. Q: Who pays the air fare? A? Refugees are given an in- terest-free loan that they will be requested to repay when they are self-supporting. Q: What specificatious can a sponsoring group make? A: The group Will be asked to specify the size of the family it wishes to sponsor. Furthermore, .w......,.. .,....i .,,hen A M-1 It will Ue cvii fugee family has been identified to ensure that it is agreeable to sponsoring that particular family. Q: ,How long is the group or organization obligated to the family? A: The sponsors undertake to assist the family for a period of one year or until the family be- comes self-sufficient (often after about four months). Should the family require material assis- tance during the year, even though it might have been self- supporting for a period of time, the group will be requested to re- sume its material and moral assistance. Q: How much does it cost to sponsor a family? A: Many factors come into play, for example, the size of the family, skills and language capabilities of its members, sponsoring group . r-1. � etc. But it is estimated that an aver- age annual cost of $1200 per family member could be ex- pected. appears that there are very esu orphans who are not cared for by some of their relatives. Q: How long will it take before the refugees actually arrive? . A: In the past, two to four months would usually elapse be- tween the sponsorship appli- cation and the arrival of the sponsored family. However, re- cent developments lead us to be- lieve that this will be consider- ably reduced, probably to be- tween one month and two months. Q- Are there orphans available Q: What are the procedures in - for adoption'. volved in the sponsorship pro - A: The commission does not gram? have a program for adoption of A: The sponsoring group or minor Indo-Chinese refugees at organization should approach its the present time. Furthermore, it local Canada Immigration Cen- Q: Are contributions tax deductible? A: Yes, if the money if fun- nelled through a charitable organization such as a church or service club. Q: What is the average family size? T. P. O'MALLEY certainly knows how to grow spuds and A: Usually four or five he has an Irish accent to accompany them. The fine red members. potatoes come from his Lower Town garden. cent group of a national or regional organi- zation, which has signed a letter of agreement with this com- mission, the group must obtain a letter from its headquarters, indicating that it has been ap- proved by its central body. If it is a legally incorporated organization or a group of five or more individuals the group will be asked to complete a form Wiill Il llilsicaiiy proVide.-, in- formation on itself, so that a deci- sion can be made by the Immi- grant Settlement Mission as to the group's suitability as spon- sors. When the group has been approved by the Ontario Re- gional Office of Employment and Immigration Canada, it will be requested by the CIC to complete a notice of intention to sponsor which will provide information as to the type of family the group is willing to assist. When the named family has been located or an unnamed family been identified, the group, either national or local, will be contacted by the Canada Immi- gration C:enire. An ilTiiiligrativn official will provide information concerning the refugee family. they adjust to life in Toronto very quickly. But we still look after • them until they become self- sufficient." RA r uc es ninn A HAVEN FOR THE HOMELESS The current situation .in In- dochina is the latest in a num�er of refugee movements that stretch back to the end of the Second World War. Since 1945 Canada has welcomed more than 350,000 of the world's refugees. from WWiI displaced persons. Htagarians and Czechoslovak- ians to Ugandan, Chileans, Leb- aneae and Tibetans. This concern for the displaced and persecuted was reflected for the first. time in Canadian law in the 1976 immigration Act and Regulations. The act confirms Canada's obligations to protect refugees under the united Nations Convention, establishes a refugee class and introduces a sponsorship system so that groups and organizations can make it easier for refugees and other displaced persons to come to Canada and rebuild their lives. The Indochinese refugee movement, with 14,360 arrivals since 1975, has become the second largest concentrated movement of refugees since 1945. To date the numbers have been exceeded only by the 37,189 Hungarians admitted after the revolution of 1956. If present plan for private sponsorship of families, matched by government sponsorship. continue Canada will admit an additional 3,000 refugees per month between now and the end of 1900. Groups in Canada may, if they choose, d�+cide to sponsor a to aid Asian refugees At least one family of Southeast Asian refugees could find a home in the Wingham area within the near future as a result of a meeting held here Monday night. The information meeting on the refugee crisis produced a commitment from members of the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic parish to sponsor a family; other persons who are not members of the parish also showed an interest in helping out. Abaft 60 people attended the meeting held in the Sacred Heart parish hall, approximately half of them parish members. Rev. Tony Sonderup chaired the gathering and introduced the guest speakers, Rev. Joseph Hardy from Clinton and Brian Van Hove, a Jesuit seminarian from Toronto. Mr. Van Have described who the refugees are and why they have left their homelands and Father Hardy then explained how sponsorship can be arranged and the responsibilities of a Mr. Van Hove said he has been involved in an unofficial capacity. with the resettlement South"A Asian r+efuge[s for four rears and during that time has talked with many of them. Although he couldn't sum- marize the political situation in a few words, he said. there is grave repression of the middle classes in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Such things as restrictions on internal travel, enforced collective farming, a breakdown of the old social structure and the arrest of and confiscation of property from any persons connected with the old govern- ment have encouraged thousands to flee. He emphasized that the fact they are reported to be buying their way out of the country with gold doesn't mean they are rich— the rich all left before 1975. Rather these are gold heirlooms pkssed down through families. They are not like a bank account. but have religious and cultural significance, he said, and are finally gathered together to be used as bribes in escaping. Massive numbers of these eseapees have gathered in Thailand, where they are collected into hastily assembled refugee camps, "very brutal and primitive places.. he reported. Many are trapped in the camps without hope unless they can find sponsors to help them start a new life in another country Sponsorship. Father Hardy explained. can take several forms: a number of churches. including the Mennonite. Roman Catholic and Presbyterian. have formed "umbrella agreements" with the Canadian government under which they can agree to sponsor refugees. other groups. such as incorporated companies. can undertake sponsorship agreements, or individuals can sponsor, although in this case at least five persons over the age of 18 must co-sign the agreement These groups can undertake to sponsor a family, which can be either a nuclear family - parents and children—or an extended family including other relatives. or an individual it was explained that most of the individuals needing sponsorshi�_ Yare single men ranging from f4M"-ageti on up. At the moment it is not possible to sponsor unac- companied children under the age of 18, although this legislation is being changed Sponsorship should not be Q: What information is avail- able to sponsoring groups? A: We have reached an agree- ment with the Ontario Ministry of Culture and Recreation for the provision of an information pack- age to sponsoring groups and organizations. This 'package describes some of the basic ele- ments of the Vietnamese culture and history. confused with adoption, however, Father Hardy emphasized. A sponsor must agree to take responsibility for the sponsored person or family until they are self supporting, up to a maximum of one year, but the sponsored individuals are not bound to the sponsoring group and are free to move on at any time, he noted. Following a question and an- swer period the group was divided. with parish members gathering to discuss sponsorship under an umbrella agreement. of the London diocese and non- members learning more about other methods, of sponsorship. Tuesday morning Father Sonderup reported a committee of seven has been elected from the parish and will meet tonight, Wednesday, to draw up a method of approach to sponsorship. A survey will be conducted to determine what types of resources are available in the parish so it will know what size family can be sponsored. He said the decision to sponsor has already been made and the committee is now working odt the details. have been cultivating bushy chins since year paraded the results of their efforts in front of a test l ap- preciative audience during the bear judging � W���m's week. 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