SPRING Research Project Podcast

In Quebec, one of the ten Canadian provinces, the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program looks somehow differently. In 1997, the Government of Quebec assumed responsibility for the implementation of the program in the province. As a result, in the subsequent years a distinct approach to refugee sponsorship emerged there, with some similarities but also some notable differences with the rest of Canada. In this episode of our podcast series, we discuss the particularities of refugee sponsorship in Quebec with Ian Van Haren, Director of Action Réfugiés Montréal: a non-governmental organization that supports asylum seekers and refugees. If you are interested in learning more about this topic, we recommend the recent book chapter by Clothilde Parent-Chartier, Neal Santamaria, and Ian Van Haren titled “Civil society organizations and collective sponsorship of refugees in Quebec”. The publication is available open access: https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/em6z2

In this episode, we are joined by Lynn Weaver (senior program manager at the Canadian Sponsorship Agreement Holders Association) to discuss the benefits and risks of the bureaucratization of refugee sponsorship. The staring point of the conversation is the relationship between civil society and government and the gradual evolution of the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program. We then zoom in on different aspects of the PSRP, such as the requirements for sponsoring organizations and individual refugee sponsors, program integrity, accountability, and risk management. Lastly, we discuss the impact of bureaucracy on refugee sponsorship programs and provide recommendations for policy makers and practitioners in Canada and abroad.

The mobilizing effect of media coverage on refugee sponsors has been widely acknowledged, especially in the context of the 2015-2016 resettlement of Syrian refugees to Canada. At the same time, the broader role that media plays in refugee sponsorship programs is rarely discussed. For example, can one use media strategically in piloting and growing refugee sponsorship programs, and if so, how? To learn more about this topic, we have invited Louisa Taylor. An award-winning journalist in her previous life and a private sponsor of refugees in her personal life, Louisa is the director and co-founder of Refuge 613: a communications and mobilization hub supporting the welcome and integration of refugees in Ottawa.

Most privately sponsored refugees live in large cities like Toronto, Winnipeg, and Ottawa. However, many also settle in small towns and rural areas across Canada. Evidence on rural sponsorship is quite limited and generally confirms the nuanced findings from research on rural resettlement. On the one hand, rurality is linked to peaceful life, relatively low cost of living, and strong community ties. On the other hand, it also relates to important structural issues, such as lack of job and study opportunities, limited access to social services, and inadequate public transport. In this episode, we focus on the challenges and opportunities that small towns and rural areas present to sponsors and sponsored newcomers. Our guest speaker is Don Boddy from rural Manitoba, who has both professional and personal experience with refugee sponsorship. You can find more information about refugee sponsorship in rural and small communities in this knowledge brief: https://refugeehub.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Sponsorship-in-Rural-and-Small-Communities.pdf

Conflict is a natural and inevitable part of human interaction, and refugee sponsorship is no exception. Conflict situations involving refugee newcomers and their sponsors may emerge at every stage of the sponsorship process for different reasons: misaligned expectations, misunderstandings, miscommunication, confusion, cultural differences, different opinions, personality clashes, and so on. They may negatively affect the settlement of newcomers and the motivation of sponsors. In this episode, we discuss different ways to prevent, de-escalate, and resolve such conflicts. Our guest speaker is Rola Mustafa, who is an accredited Mediator and certified trainer from the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution.

In this episode, we discuss yet another quite unique element of the Canadian sponsorship model: the pre-arrival communication between sponsors and sponsored refugee newcomers. In most sponsorship programs, the first contact between sponsors and sponsored refugees is when newcomers arrive in their country of destination. In Canada, however, it is quite common that sponsors and sponsored refugees communicate extensively before the moment of arrival. This communication may have a lot of benefits, and in some cases, pre-arrival contact may even prove crucial for the success of the sponsorship. Our guest speaker is Dr. Christopher Kyriakides who holds the Canada Research Chair in Citizenship, Social Justice and Ethno-Racialisation at York University. You can find more about the topic of pre-arrival sponsor-sponsored interaction in the following publications: https://doi.org/10.7202/1064817ar

Over the last three decades, there have been numerous indications that a large part of the sponsorships in the PSR Program are so-called “family-linked sponsorships”. These sponsorships are often initiated by recently arrived newcomers and members of diaspora communities, who seek to sponsor their relatives. Despite their importance for the PSR program, little is known about this type of sponsors: they rarely feature in academic research, policy publications, training materials, or public discourse. In this episode, we focus on the contribution of these "invisible" sponsors to the PSR program and on the challenges they face. Our guest speakers are Biftu Yousuf (PhD candidate at the Centre for Refugee Studies of York University) and Sabine Lehr (Private Sponsorship of Refugees Manager at the Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria). The book chapter of Sabine Lehr and Brian Dyck mentioned in the podcast is titled "'Naming' refugees in the Canadian Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program: diverse intentions and consequences". You can find it in the edited volume "Strangers to Neighbours: Refugee Sponsorship in Context" or watch Sabine's presentation at the book launch event. See here an article co-authored by Biftu Yousuf, which discusses family-linked sponsorships (Hyndman, J., Reynolds, J., Yousuf, B., Purkey, A., Demoz, D., & Sherrell, K. (2021). Sustaining the private sponsorship of resettled refugees in Canada. Frontiers in Human Dynamics, 3, 625358).

In 2015, the Canadian government announced its plan to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees within just a few months. Many of the newcomers arrived in Canada through the PSR Program. In the subsequent years, the number of privately sponsored Syrians continued growing, reaching more than 37,000 in the period 2015-2022. In this episode, we discuss different aspects of the settlement of Syrian refugees in Canada with Prof. Michaela Hynie (Interim Director of the Centre for Refugee Studies, York University) and Maysoun Darweesh (program coordinator for migration and resettlement at the Mennonite Central Committee of Manitoba). To watch the presentation of Heba Gowayed's book "Refuge: How the State Shapes Human Potential" (mentioned by Prof. Michaela Hynie in the podcast): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olbWsHqhQJs&list=PL_nkOWatePynQetK9kUJPZz__UzM6JzcW&index=1

In this episode, Eliza and Tiho are joined by Ania Kwadrans (University of Ottawa Refugee Hub) and May Amouri (Refugee Sponsorship Training Program) to discuss the importance of Groups of Five (G5) sponsors for the Canadian Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program. The conversation starts with a brief introduction into the policy framework that facilitates G5 sponsorships. Then, May and Ania discuss who G5 sponsors are, how they support sponsored refugee newcomers, what challenges they face, and what support is available to them. The episode closes with some recommendations for policymakers and practitioners who work on community sponsorship in Canada and abroad. Resources for G5 sponsors from the Refugee Sponsorship Training Program (RSTP): https://www.rstp.ca/en/special-initiatives/connect-with-settlement-support/https://www.rstp.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Benefits-of-Connecting-with-a-Settlement-Worker.pdfhttps://www.rstp.ca/en/training/webinars/https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/application-forms-guides/guide-sponsor-refugee-groups-five.html

Sponsorship Agreement Holders (SAH) are local, regional, and national incorporated organizations that have signed agreements with the Canadian government to assume overall responsibility for management of refugee sponsorships. Currently, there are more than 130 such organizations across Canada that annually sponsor 12,500 refugees. In this episode, Eliza and Tihomir are joined by Kaylee Perez (Mennonite Central Committee, co-chair of the Sponsorship Agreement Holder Council) and Geoffrey Cameron (Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at McMaster University and Research Associate at the Global Migration Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto). The discussion zooms in on the past, present, and future of SAHs, and on the crucial role they play in sustaining the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program.

In September 2022, Eliza Bateman (Head of Research, University of Ottawa Refugee Hub) and Tihomir Sabchev (Post-doctoral fellow, University of Ottawa Refugee Hub) will launch the SPRING Research Project Podcast on community sponsorship of refugees. In this short introductory episode, Eliza and Tiho introduce themselves, the work of the Refugee Hub, and the SPRING research project, setting the scene for the upcoming discussions on the Canadian Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program in following episodes.