St. Dominic Refugee Care Committee Meeting Minutes, Wednesday, February 3, 2016

 

1. Opening Prayer: Norm Murray led us in A Prayer for Refugees.

2. Agenda: The agenda was accepted as presented. 

3. Introductions: Norm introduced Nayer Agaiby who is fluent in Arabic.

Present: Norm & Nerina Murray, Liz & Maury Whyte, Charmaine Aubut, Sharon & Sid Cebrowski, Karen Dysart, Brian Thornton, Theresa O'Connor, Georgina Bourke, Helen Danko, Julia Hillock and Nayer Agaiby

Regrets: Bill Doyle and Fr. Anderson

Those present introduced themselves with a brief biography and connection to the committee.    

4. Approval of Minutes: A motion was made by Nerina, seconded by Liz to approve the

minutes of January 19, 2016 with the addition of Julia Hillock under Regrets.    Motion carried. 

5.Change on the Committee

Genevieve Poirier-Murphy has stepped down for personal reasons but will assist at a sub-committee level when possible. 

6. St. Dominic Refugee Committee Settlement Plan: Norm distributed hard copies of the Plan dated January 31, 2016 and it was reviewed at the meeting.  Changes were noted.  {Norm sent an electronic copy of the revised Plan on February 5.} 

7. Parish Financial Council Motion: Norm read the following motion approved by the Parish Finance Council-The Parish Finance Council approves the outreach programme by which the parish plans to raise funds to sponsor a Syrian refugee family to come to Canada, in co-operation with the Diocese of Hamilton and the Government of Canada.  Specifically the Parish Council recognizes that the programme is a suitable expression of the parish's charitable objective of providing pastoral care for those in need.    

8. Draft Budget for Refugee Family Settlement Plan: Karen and Brian presented a draft of the budget needed for the Settlement Plan.  According to the budget we would need $33,389. to implement the plan.  This did not take into account that some items would be donated.  It was stated that the biggest expenditure would be the cost of rent in Oakville.

The Refugee Sponsorship Fund is $36,250.40 to date.

 

9. Progress of Police Checks and Parish Screening: Most had received the police check and submitted it to the parish office with their Volunteer Screening Form.  

Norm urged those who had not received their police check to submit the Volunteer Screening Form to the parish and bring in the police check when it arrives. Fr. Anderson will be doing the Parish Volunteer Screening himself.

Norm hopes to have our application ready for the Diocese by mid February. 

10.Presentation by Halton Multicultural Council: Norm introduced Babar Mobarak, Settlement Program Manager, who informed us of services available.  He also answered questions asked by the committee on specific topics.  HMC folders were distributed with information on Translation & Interpretation Services, Settlement Services for Newcomers and Community Services.  Charmaine thanked him for his information and he volunteered to be available for further information on an individual basis.

11.Other Business Discussed:

Georgina will update our bulletin announcement with an emphasis on affordable accommodation.

12. Next Meeting: TBA