Last fall, a family* nervously stepped off a plane at Edmonton International Airport and looked around at Canada for the first time. After fleeing for their lives in their homeland of Myanmar/Burma and spending years waiting in a refugee camp in Thailand, they had finally received word that they would be welcomed to start a new life in a country on the other side of the world. Now that they had arrived in Canada, however, the family’s joy about starting a peaceful and successful new life was mixed with fears and nervousness about how they’d get started, where they would live, how they would learn the language, and what they would do to earn an income.

Waiting to meet them at the airport and ready to answer some of their questions were men and women from Bethel Community Christian Reformed Church. Through World Renew, Bethel church had learned about refugee resettlement and had agreed to be a sponsoring church for families in need. They greeted the family at the airport and took them home to a furnished apartment that the church had prepared for the family to use. Over the next few weeks, church members met with the family to orient them to public transportation, connect them with English language classes, help find them jobs, and teach them how to function in this new culture.

“We, as Refugee Sponsorship Committee members, have a real heart for the poor and believe that God has blessed us richly; giving us the means and responsibility to help those who have so little,” said Audrey Vriend, one of the volunteers from Bethel church.  “We want to help spread God's love to these families who have lost so much, not the least of which is a safe place to live and raise their families.”

“Imagine being a parent in a refugee camp that would need to choose to leave behind a nineteen or twenty year old child in order to come to Canada.”

For the last thirty-four years, Christian Reformed congregations like Bethel, along with Canadians from many other faith groups, have offered hospitality to refugees—they have found them homes, offered food, calmed fears, and extended friendship.

As a result of this ministry, families and individuals from Vietnam, Korea, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Iran, Sudan, Iraq, Burundi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Colombia, Serbia, Guatemala, Bosnia, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Yugoslavia, Egypt, Pakistan, Vietnam, Myanmar/Burma, Kosovo, Rwanda, and Turkey have found new homes in Canada.

Many have gone on to lead very successful lives in Canada. They have found permanent jobs, sent their children to school, and are now fully engaged Canadian citizens.

“I have been in Canada one year and two months,” said a representative of another refugee family* that Bethel has sponsored through World Renew. He now has a job in a nearby industrial park. “When I first arrived in Canada, I was sad because I couldn’t stop thinking about my parents and relatives back in Burma but now I know Canada offers freedom of human rights. This is a wonderful place to raise a family.”

Sadly, recent Canadian legislation is causing huge hurdles to this important ministry. Last June, for example, changes were made to the Interim Federal Health Insurance Program that governs medical assistance for refugees. These changes cancelled health benefits for certain privately-sponsored refugees and placed the onus for covering medical costs on the sponsoring churches themselves.

For many small congregations who already dig deep to pay for housing, furniture, clothing and other supplies for refugee families, the financial risks of future medical costs are too great to take on. As a result, they decide not to continue in their refugee sponsorship ministry.

Another damaging legislative change occurred last June when Bill C-31 was passed into law. This law makes distinctions between different groups of refugees, and can call into question whether someone is a refugee even before they have had a chance to have a fair hearing. Refugees who arrive in Canada by certain means of transportation, or from certain designated countries may be put into detention and “fast tracked” into a hearing before they have time to gather the necessary paperwork. This creates a two-tiered refugee processing system that could see many families denied entry and sent back to places of discrimination and violence.

“Canada has historically been seen as nation known for its compassion to refugees who have risked their lives to escape political, religious, or other forms of persecution,” said Rose Dekker, Refugee Coordinator for World Renew. “The church community in particular has responded in compassion and love to Christ’s words to welcome the stranger. We have been proud to protect these most needy of God’s children who have lost everything due to war and persecution. With recent legislative changes, though, we are now turning towards being a country that is suspicious and guarded about responding to refugee needs.”

The most recent refugee legislation that has been proposed would also deeply impact refugee families. Currently children of refugees who are under the age of twenty-two, are considered dependents of their parents and can be sponsored to Canada along with their families. The new legislation proposes to lower the age of dependency to “under nineteen” years of age.

“Imagine being a parent in a refugee camp that would need to choose to leave behind a nineteen or twenty year old child in order to come to Canada under either the private sponsorship of refugees program or the government assisted program,” said Dekker. “If you have a nineteen year old child or grandchild, could you leave that child behind in order to find safety for yourself and your younger children?”

For volunteers like Vriend, these issues are now very real.

“My work in refugee resettlement has been very rewarding since I’ve been able to see first-hand the difference our help can make. Bonds become very strong between refugee family members and committee members as we grow to love and care for each other,” she said. “It really has changed my perspective on refugees in our world and the need that is out there. Now whenever I hear ‘refugees’ in a news story my ears perk up to listen carefully to what is happening in countries all over the world, as these people are no longer faceless to me.”

Thursday, June 20, is World Refugee Day. This year, World Renew would like to ask you to pray for refugees around the world and for those building new lives in Canada. We’d also like to ask you to join us in taking action. Please visit the Canadian Council for Refugees “Proud to Protect Refugees” campaign http://ccrweb.ca/en/proud-to-protect-refugees and consider how you can get involved. To protest the proposed legislation about changing the age of dependency, write a letter to your MP or join in one of the World Refugee Day activities in a city near you.

* Names have been withheld to protect the privacy and security of family members.

Photo of a refugee family from Myanmar/Burma in a camp in Thailand courtesy UNHCR/R.Arnold