A group of dedicated citizens, headed by Bruce Ives have reached out to Village council in order to gain more support for the attempt to sponsor Syrian refugees. While still in its early stages the group wishes to sponsor at least two families to come to Haida Gwaii.
During the Dec. 21 meeting, council was sympathetic towards the situation but required more information before they could become involved. Council asked village staff to gather more information and decided to form a committee of the whole.
Mr. Ives has organized a group of people to look at the best possible way for Haida Gwaii to sponsor Syrian refugees. The group had a public meeting and discussed the issues of funding, housing and integrating the refugees into Canadian lifestyles.
Over 20 people have joined Mr. Ives on this mission and will offer help in various ways. The group would like to see two to three families in The Queen Charlotte and Tlell area and one or two families on Moresby island.
According to the United Nations there are 13 million people inside Syria in need of urgent help, including 6.5 million who are internally displaced.
To date Canada has committed over $969 million in humanitarian, development and security assistance in response to the Syrian crisis.
