Canada’s Obligations to Help Refugees
This article appeared in the King Weekly Sentinel on August 11th, 2021. Canadians have committed themselves to help the world’s refugees, because we can and because it is the right thing to do. Canada has obligations to the Afghan translators and their families who served with Canadians in Afghanistan and are now at risk from deadly Taliban reprisal. Three years ago Canada also promised Syrian “White Helmet”...
The Private Sponsorship of Refugees (PSR) Program
This article appeared in the King Weekly Sentinel on July 28, 2021. The Private Sponsorship of Refugees (PSR) program is a pioneering Canadian refugee resettlement program. The arrival of Vietnamese refugees on Canadian shores – often referred to as the “Boat People” – in the mid 1970s mobilized Canadians to respond. In 1979, the Canadian government pledged to sponsor one refugee for each refugee that the Canadian public would financially and...
Global Refugee Numbers Continue to Increase
This article appeared in the King Weekly Sentinel on July 22, 2021. United Nations announced that an unprecedented number of people have been forced to flee their homes. More than 82.4 million men, women and children have had their worlds turned upside down by war, violence and persecution. A few days later on World Refugee Day, June 20, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi commented,...