1. Opening Prayer: Fr. Anderson offered prayer for a productive meeting.
2. Welcome: It was agreed by those present that Norm Murray would chair the committee. He welcomed those present and thanked them for their involvement.
Present: Father Michael Anderson, Norm and Nerina Murray, Brian Thornton, Genevieve Poirier-Murphy, Charmaine Aubut and
3. Governing Committee Executive:
a) Chair-Norm Murray
b) Co-Chair-
c) Finance-Brian
e) Administrator/Spiritual Advisor-Fr. Michael
1. Government pays months 2-7 income support directly into refugee bank account.
2. Sponsors assist refugees to set up a bank account. Give family a monthly cheque to cover support for month 1 and months 8-12.
3.The parish must set up a separate bank account to receive donations and pay refugee and other expenses as needed. Donations are eligible for an income tax receipt from the parish.
5. Review of presentation and document on BVOR Sponsorship
Norm pointed out highlights from the presentation document that was distributed to those present.
* Parish is responsible for all start up costs
* Monthly cheque (1 & 8-12) to cover food & incidentals, shelter, transportation (bus pass) if required and maternity dietary allowance
* Parish must have $30,000. in a separate account when submitting the sponsorship application
* Sponsors can assist or repay the Canadian Government immigration loan (transportation & admissibility) that the refugee family has received. which could be up to $20,000.
* All committee members must undergo High Risk volunteer screening which includes interview and references checked by the parish volunteer screening committee plus a police records check. The cost for which could be covered by the parish.
* All drivers of the refugee family must have the above plus $2,000,000. in auto liability insurance.
* A one time volunteer without the above clearance must be accompanied by a committee member who has been screened.
* A volunteer requiring monetary reimbursement for service shall be paid from the parish refugee fund account.
* Parish is responsible for reception in
* Committee to come to a consensus on desired refugee profile and family size.
* All refugees must be registered and granted Refugee Status Determination (RSD) with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR)
* UNHCR criteria for resettlement referral to Canada is based on at least meeting one of the following vulnerable conditions: needs legal/physical protection, survivor of violence/torture, medical needs, women & girls at risk, family reunification, children & adolescents at risk and no foreseeable solution to the situation.
* UNHCR decides to recommend a refugee for referral to
* If CIC determines a refugee is eligible and admissible their names are proposed to BVOR for sponsorship. Once a sponsor is found travel arrangements are made for the refugee to travel to
* Specifying a religious preference is not recommended. Religious affiliation is often not indicated and when stated, the family may not be participating members. It is our Christian responsibility to welcome any and all vulnerable people who are approved for resettlement.
* Committee will have a limited time (approximately 1 week) to accept or decline a refugee profile. Once the Diocese puts a hold on a case, the committee has 2 days to commit to sponsoring the refugee profile.
* Sponsors can expect to be informed of the family's arrival approximately 10 days ahead of time.
6. Potential Committee Chairs: The following were not specifically addressed-housing
& household needs, clothing, schooling, language, shopping, filling in government application forms, banking, parish communication and fund raising.
Fr. Anderson will update parishioners on the refugee status as we proceed.
Nerina will ask Maury Whyte to make a chart that displays our fund raising goals.
7. General Parish Meeting: A meeting should be held in the new year to fully inform parishioner of the program details and answer questions, Norm will contact Erin Pease to ask if she would be able to attend.
9. Other Business: 3 documents will be available from Erin Pease's office on Dec.15.
* BVOR Diocesan Sponsorship Application
* BVOR Settlement Plan
* BVOR Budget Template
Parish must have $30,000. and the BVOR Diocesan Sponsorship Application completed to apply to the diocese to sponsor a family.
Fr. Anderson will set up parish volunteer screening.
He will draft a document illustrating areas of volunteer needs and job descriptions for these areas.
10. Next Meeting: Tuesday, December 22, 2015 7:30 pm.
No comments:
Post a Comment