25^th Anniversary of Canada’s Private Sponsorship Program

by Barbara Treviranus
 

Canada has a long tradition of reaching out to those in need and providing refugees the opportunity to rebuild their lives here.  But in 1979, with the new Immigration Act in force we –as a people- were able to take a direct role as never before.  Through the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program, Canadians and Landed Immigrants (now called permanent residents) can extend Canada’s capacity to resettle refugees by committing their time, energy and resources to the sponsorship of a refugee or a refugee family in need of protection.  This year marks the 25^th anniversary of the Private Sponsorship Program, and since 1979 private sponsors have resettled approximately 183,000 refugees to Canada.

The plight of the Indochinese “boat people” truly launched the Private Sponsorship Program. Sitting in our living rooms, transfixed by televised scenes of horror, we were determined to do something about it. The response to the Boat refugees was overwhelming.  The government matched the offers of sponsorship support, and within a few years over 60,000 South-East Asian refugees arrived, well over half of them through the Private Sponsorship Program.

By this time faith groups and other humanitarian organizations had signed Master Agreements with the Government of Canada, and offers of sponsorship were extended to refugees in other areas of crisis. 

Barbara Treviranus is the Manager of the Refugee Sponsorship Training Program

Editor's Note:  JIAS Canada was one of the first to sign the Master Agreement.  As a result, in the past 25 years we have been able to sponsor such refugee groups as the "Boat People", Eastern Europeans, Iranians and Yugoslavians.

We are proud to be amongst those celebrating 25 years of significant involvement of thousands of ordinary Canadians in the resettlement of people from all over the world, who have needed a place to call their homeland after escaping from fear and violence in the land of their birth.