Almost 200 people filled a room at Edith Cavell school last night for an information session about refugees.
The City of Moncton organized the sessions, because of the imminent arrival of 25,000 refugees in Canada by the end of the year.
Josie Marks is a refugee and immigration lawyer and she explained how to sponsor a refugee.
“The first thing that you need to do is identify a group of individuals, either a group of five Canadian citizens or permanent residents, or a community organization who is willing to pledge both the financial and non financial support,” says Marks.
Marks says the group must be able to support refugees financially for 12 months, and also integrate them in the community by doing things like finding them schools, doctors, and signing them up for government programs like Medicare.
The Multicultural Association of the Greater Moncton Area is also prepared to step up and add their decades of experience and programs to resettling refugees and helping those who wish to be involved.
Executive Director Jean-Pierre Alexandre says they are fully committed to the Trudeau government plan for bringing in 25,000 Syrian refugees.
“Considering that number, we assume our province would be allocated about 1000, out of them about 300 to Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview,” says Alexandre.
Moncton Mayor George LeBlanc was also in attendance, and he spoke about the great support forthcoming from Monctonians remarking Moncton has long been known as the City With A Heart.
