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Responsibilities of a Sponsor

Image by Timothy Eberly

What is a sponsoring church responsible for?

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A sponsorship church commits to helping the refugee(s) integrate into life in Canada for a period of twelve months. This is a legal commitment. They form a settlement team and provide financial and non-financial support throughout the first year the newcomers are in Canada.

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Funds for the newcomer's income support during their settlement year needs to be raised before the refugees arrive in Canada. The Canadian government sets minimum amounts of funds required, which varies depending on where the refugee(s) settles within Canada. We require all the funds to be raised before the sponsorship application can be submitted to the IRCC for processing. 

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The church settlement team is responsible for a number of tasks: greeting the refugee(s) at the airport, providing housing, furnishings, household essentials, food, clothing, and other basic necessities. The team will assist them as they get oriented to their new community. Among other activities, they will help them with banking, employment, filling out forms for health cards and social insurance cards, registering them or their children in schools or language classes, and connecting them with medical professionals.

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How does Remember Ministries help in the sponsorship process?

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Every sponsorship is unique just as the needs of every refugee and every church will be unique. We are committed to working with each church to develop the best plan for them and for the refugee(s).

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Here are some of the ways we can help:

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  • Connecting the church with persecuted believers who have verified experiences of persecution and corroboration of their faith
     

  • Guiding the church through the sponsorship process, from the first steps of filling out paperwork for the SAH and IRCC until the end of the 12 months of settlement
     

  • Working on the sponsorship paperwork with the church
     

  • Helping connect the church with a SAH (Sponsorship Agreement Holder)
     

  • Depending on the SAH and the location of the church, Remember Ministries sometimes acts as a legal party to the sponsorship with the church as cosponsor
     

  • Lending expertise to the church in steps to creating and developing their settlement team
     

  • Providing resources and/or training for the settlement team on: the ethics of settlement, being aware of the inherent power imbalance, cultural sensitivities and managing expectations
     

  • Sharing vision with church leaders and volunteers
     

  • Providing guest speakers on the refugee experience, persecution of Christians, and the experience of refugee sponsorship in Canada (subject to speakers' availability)

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If you are interested in finding out more, please contact us.

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