Sault to welcome refugee family

Council passed a resolution Monday to officially endorse a community-wide effort to raise enough funds to sponsor a refugee family.

The resolution calls for the city to lead the fundraising effort, with the Social Services Department as the lead agency to provide co-ordination for the refugee family sponsorship effort.

Picking up on the attention the Syrian refugee crisis has captured around the world, Ward One City Councillor Steve Butland said in Turkey alone 2 million refugees have to be fed every day.

"We need to do our bit (in welcoming a refugee family to Sault Ste. Marie)," Butland told council.

Pointing out it costs $27,000 to support a refugee family of four in its first year in Canada, Butland said there is interest among local bank branches, service clubs, churches, hoteliers, major retailers and others to help with the sponsorship effort.

Butland said the effort will be fuelled by fundraising, not taxpayers money.

Meanwhile, council was informed by Linda Coulter of St. Andrew's United Church of an effort by St. Andrew's, currently underway, to bring a family of six currently living in a refugee camp in Thailand to Sault Ste. Marie.

That effort has been approved by the UN and the federal government.

The family consists of a father, mother and four children, aged two, five, eight and 10.

The family fled persecution in Burma and has lived in a refugee camp in Thailand for 10 years.

The family has passed all of its medical and security checks, Coulter told council.

John Tully, of the Friends of Refugees group, told reporters St. Andrew's will pay half the family's settling-in costs for one year.

Tully said the family will be arriving in Sault Ste. Marie "probably about a month from now."

Tully said the family will have shelter, but any leads on getting more permanent two or three bedroom accommodation would be appreciated by contacting St. Andrew's United Church.