Refugee Committee

Millions of people around the world have fled persecution and violence in their home countries. The best solution for a refugee is to be able to go home without fear. The UN says that the next best solution is local integration in their country of first asylum, with a chance to live their lives with full enjoyment of their human rights. When neither option is available, a new beginning through resettlement in countries like Canada offers a durable solution and hope for a new life.

Private sponsorship of refugees to Canada began in the late 1970s with the Vietnamese “Boat People.” The Refugee Committee at the Church of the Holy Trinity is proud that, since 1991, our congregation has sponsored some 150 refugees fleeing persecution and violence in Afghanistan, Burundi, Cambodia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Kosovo, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, and Syria. We have provided them with our financial and moral support; today, they are making positive contributions to our society, both economically and socially.

Some of our more recent sponsorship efforts have included helping:

• A mother and two daughters from Eritrea who were refugees in Ethiopia and Uganda
• A man from Iraq who was in Lebanon
• Two brothers from Syria who were in Egypt
• A mother and daughter from Syria who were in Lebanon
• A mother and son from Eritrea who were in Uganda

We know we are called to “welcome the stranger.” Our sponsorship efforts are one of the ways we seek to answer that call.