To date, more than 15,000 Syrian refugees have arrived as Government Assisted Refugees (GARs), more than 10,000 have come as Privately Sponsored Refugees (PSRs), and more than 2500 have been sponsored by the Blended Visa Office-Referred (BVOR) Program, a three-way partnership between the Government of Canada, the United Nations Refugee Agency, and private sponsors. These three programs of sponsorship currently comprise Canada’s refugee (re)settlement system; however, we know little about how effective these programs are compared to one another and the existing research is highly limited, especially with respect to the inclusion of refugee and other.

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The overall goal of this project is to determine whether, and how, Canada’s refugee (re)settlement system could/should be improved. The specific objectives are to: 1) establish collaborative, interdisciplinary research networks and partnerships related to Syrian refugee (re)settlement; 2) exchange and mobilize the knowledge of key stakeholders involved in each of the three sponsorship models of sponsorship in the Syrian refugee (re)settlement process; 3) identify ‘best practices’ for Canada’s refugee (re)settlement system; 4) explore the transferable nature of the knowledge gained to other newcomer refugee communities and crisis situations and settings. 

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On Friday, April 13, 2018, more than 50 knowledge users, including policy-makers, service providers, researchers, and community members from across Ontario gathered Ryerson University, in Toronto for the Emerging Voices symposium. The aim of the symposium was to learn from stakeholders’ knowledge of, and lived experience with, the three sponsorship programs. We explored models of (re)settlement across Ontario to identify successes, limitations, and recommendations, and aim to establish collaborative, interdisciplinary networks and partnerships for further advancement of refugee (re)settlement in Canada.

Find out more at Emerging Voices