Canada has what is called a “universal health-care system”. This system is publicly funded and is paid for through taxes. “Medicare” is the term that refers to Canada’s publicly funded healthcare system, and each province and territory are responsible for the management and delivery of healthcare to its residents.
For two decades, Australia has subjected asylum seekers who arrive by boat without a valid visa to “third country processing” or “offshore processing”. This policy has endured through multiple governments and although billions of dollars have been spent, hundreds of refugees are still in limbo. Offshore detention is designed to be brutal; the evidence of poor conditions, abuse, harm and inadequate treatment suffered by those in detention is documented and clear.
There are many parts to the application process, some of which happen in Canada, and some of which occur overseas at the Canadian visa office. Unfortunately, private sponsorship is not a quick process and there is no exact timeline for how long each step will last. But we hope this step-by-step outline will make the process a little more clear.
Settlement teams (or in the Canadian government’s language, “sponsors”) are responsible for providing social and emotional support to newcomers upon their arrival to Canada for a period of one year. Settlement teams provide two types of support: pre-arrival and post-arrival.
Operation #NotForgotten is a partnership between MOSAIC (a Sponsorship Agreement Holder based in Vancouver), Ads Up Canada and the Refugee Council of Australia, in cooperation with UNHCR Australia. Begun in 2019, it offers an alternative pathway and durable solution for refugees who have been indefinitely detained on PNG or Nauru as part of Australia’s offshore processing system since 2013.
The Private Sponsorship of Refugees program (PSR) is unique to Canada and gives Canadians the opportunity to play a meaningful role in the welcome and integration of refugees to Canada. There are 3 types of private sponsors in the PSR program along with government-funded organizations that train and support both sponsors and newcomers.
Operation #NotForgotten (ONF) is a private (not government) sponsorship effort for those who sought asylum in Australia and were forcibly detained on either Manus or Nauru since 2013. It includes those who were detained on Manus or Nauru and then transferred to Australia.
The Manus Regional Processing Centre, located on a former PNG and Australlan naval base on Manus Island, PNG, was one of 2 offshore processing sites opened in 2001 under the Howard government’s “Pacific Solution”. After falling into disuse it closed in 2008, but reopened under a Labor government in 2012.
Every day we are contacted by refugees from all over the world who want to be privately sponsored to Canada. The hard truth is that there are no easy ways to come to Canada as a refugee. But here are three main ways that refugees abroad can try to come to Canada.
A Sponsorship Agreement Holder (SAH) is an organization that has an agreement with the Government of Canada permitting them to resettle refugees through the Private Sponsorship of Refugees (PSR) Program.
No more items
No more items