1. The Refugee Ministry of the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa
Thank you Bishop Chapman. Good morning. As we look forward to developing our Refugee Ministry with renewed vision over the next year, I want to celebrate with you what I believe to be the extraordinary accomplishments over the past 5 years.

2. The Refugee Ministry Office Team
Joyce Couvrette, FT Staff RM Officer
Don Smith, FT Volunteer RM Officer
Garry Smith, PT Volunteer Associate RM Officer
John McBride, Volunteer Financial Consultant
But first, here is the team of our Refugee Ministry Office at this time. You will see how this small team has found themselves heroically managing an exponential increase in sponsorship over the last 5 years.

3. Don Smith Refugee Working Group Diocese of Ottawa
Let’s go back to Synod 2013 when Archbishop Suheil of Jerusalem was our guest.

4. Asmah Family Iraqi- Palestinian Refugees
That year, we told you the story of the Asmah family, Iraqi Palestinians who we had been sponsored by the Church of St John the Evangelist and MacKay United.

5. Applications for refugees
In 2013 we submitted applications for 10 refugees
In 2013, the Diocese submitted 2 applications to sponsor 10 refugees.

6. Synod 2014 3 Million Refugees Flee Syria
At Synod 2014, we talked about the growing refugee crisis in Syria At that time, there were 3 Million Syrian refugees. Now there are closer to 6 million.

7. Applications for refugees
In 2013 we submitted applications for 10 refugees
In 2014 we submitted applications for 10 refugees
And in 2014 we submitted 2 more applications again for 10 refugees.

8. Synod 2015 That Synod direct Diocesan Council to
1) develop processes to permit ad hoc community groups to undertake fully funded private sponsorships of refugees through the diocese in its capacity as a Sponsorship Agreement Holder, and
2) develop processes to permit Canadian friends and relatives of refugees overseas to partner with the diocese and
3) to secure funding to cover the cost of operations.
Two months before Synod 2015, the death of little Aylan Kurdi captured our attention and resulted in Synod passing the resolutions to take on ad hoc community groups as Constituent Groups, and for he Diocese to sponsor refugees directly with their friends and families.

9. Applications for refugees
In 2013 we submitted applications for 10 refugees
In 2014 we submitted applications for 10 refugees
In 2015 we submitted applications for 46 refugees
And in 2015, we submitted applications for 46 refugees.

10. Synod 2016 25 parish-based groups 24 ad hoc secular groups
8 groups with Jewish Family Services
2 groups with other registered charities
1000+ volunteers (Police Record Checks)
>$500K donations to Diocese from ad hoc secular group
>$600K donations and pledges reported by parishes.
~ $75K extra-budgetary grants for operations
The resolutions from Synod 2015 enabled the Ministry to grow to 60 plus sponsoring groups over the following year.

11. Applications for refugees
In 2013 we submitted applications for 10 refugees
In 2014 we submitted applications for 10 refugees
In 2015 we submitted applications for 46 refugees
In 2016 we submitted applications for 284 refugees
And in 2016 we submitted applications for 284 refugees, making the Diocese of Ottawa one of the 3 most active Anglican Sponsorship Agreement Holders in the country.

12. Synod 2017 Haven’t we done enough?
In 2017 we asked you if we had done enough. After all, Canada had landed 46,000 refugees the previous year and the United States, under President Obama, had landed 96,000

13. Applications for refugees
In 2013 we submitted applications for 10 refugees
In 2014 we submitted applications for 10 refugees
In 2015 we submitted applications for 46 refugees
In 2016 we submitted applications for 284 refugees
In 2017 we submitted applications for 132 refugees
And it looks like we thought we had done enough because in 2017 we only submitted applications for 132 refugees, less than half what we submitted in 2016, mostly due to a fall-off in new sponsorships for UN selected Blended Visa Office Referred refugees..

14. Global
Trends
FORCED
DISPLACEMENT
IN 2017
“At the end of 2017, the global refugee population … was million – the highest known total to date and an increase of 2.9 million from 2016.”
The problem, however, is that the refugee crisis is only getting worse. From the United Nations Refugee Agency
Courtesy UNHCR

15. Trump administration to slash refugee cap
Rise of anti-immigrant populism Our world – growing anti-immigrant populism
Trump administration to slash refugee cap
The Trump administration will admit no more than 30,000 refugees to the U.S. in the coming year, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, down from the current cap of 45,000.
Ted Hesson and Nahal Toosi, Politico,
posted Sep :34 PM EDT, Updated Sep 17, :41 PM EDT
And the suffering is made worse by Trump’s policies, slashing the American landing targets and leaving 10s of thousands of refugees to rot in camps around the world.

16. And our response and our response
Donors foot bill for refugees — now they need sponsors
- Shapiro Foundation, anonymous Canadian donor provide more than $1M
Mark Zarecki, executive director of Jewish Family Services of Ottawa, says the money will be used to fund the needs of refugees and might spur new sponsors to get involved.
Now that donors have covered the cost, settlement agencies are looking for sponsors to help welcome up to 150 refugees to the City of Ottawa — and a total of 1,000 nationwide.
Matthew Kupfer · CBC News · Posted: Aug 08, :29 AM ET | Last Updated: August 8
There is, however, hope. When it looked like private sponsors in would not take up all refugees that the UN was referring for resettlement to Canada, several wealthy Canadian and US donors stepped up to pay the sponsors costs.

17. BVOR Fund Jewish Family Services Diocese of Ottawa
University of Ottawa Refugee Hub
Donors (Shapiro Foundation et al)
Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Diocese of Ottawa
Refugee Family
Sponsoring Group
Refugee Family
Sponsoring Group
Refugee Family
Sponsoring Group
The Diocese worked in partnership with Jewish Family Services, the University of Ottawa Refugee Hub, the Shapiro Foundation and the Immigration Department to recruit sponsors. In just one month, starting with an information session at the Cathedral on August 16th, we recruited 38 sponsoring groups with hundreds of volunteers, including the Parish of Bearbrook Navan and Blackburn – significantly more than any other Sponsorship Agreement Holder in Canada - and matched them with 128 refugees.
Refugee Family
Sponsoring Group

18. 702 refugees safe in Canada. Something to celebrate!
Synod 2018
In 2013 we submitted applications for 10 refugees
In 2014 we submitted applications for 10 refugees
In 2015 we submitted applications for 46 refugees
In 2016 we submitted applications for 284 refugees
In 2017 we submitted applications for 132 refugees
In 2018 we will submit applications for 220 refugees
And the result is, by the end of 2018, your Diocese will have submitted applications for 220 refugees, more than any other Diocese in the country.
But it was not easy. The number of sponsoring groups recruited and applications submitted is similar to what the Diocese managed during the Syrian crisis in 2015/ But back then, we had 15 months to do it. This time, Joyce did it in 2 ½ months – starting on August 16th, when we held our first information session in the Cathedral, and I went off on holidays, until next week, when the last application will go into immigration.
Joyce had to work 80 hour weeks to make this happen. I don’t think that we all can thank her, and Barry, enough. *
And looking back over the past 5 years, the Diocese has sponsored 702 refugees, giving them a new life, new hope. NOW THAT IS SOMETHING TO CELEBRATE!
702 refugees safe in Canada. Something to celebrate!

19. The future – Long term view
2012 St John the Evangelist Sponsors Medhat Asmah
St James Manotick
sponsors Adel Almadi,
Medhat’s brother
As the Bishop said in his introductory remarks, it is time to take a long term view and to develop a new model for our Refugee Ministry.
When we agree to take on a sponsorship, it can take us a year to prepare the application, another year or 2 for immigration to process the application and another year of sponsorship. So sponsorships for cases that we are looking at now may only be completed in 2022.
However, not only does an individual sponsorship take years to complete, one sponsorship can lead to another. Remember that I started this presentation with Synod 2013, when we talked about the Asmah family whom St John the Evangelist sponsored in Well 2 months ago, St James Manotick welcomed Adel Almadi, Medhat’s brother. Our commitment to the extended family will last close to a decade.

20. The future – promoting partnerships
Sponsorship Agreement Holders Association
In our future vision we need to continue to build our network of partners.

21. The future – financial responsibility
Annual value of sponsorships - $1M
Securing sponsorship funds
Co-sponsors
Ad hoc community groups
Parishes
Partner charities (St Elias, Kidus Gabriel)
And we need to develop the funding sources for our work and for those we serve.
We are optimistic that the proposed development of a new model for our Refugee Ministry in 2019 will enable us to bring many, many more refugee families and individuals to safety.

22. The BVOR Fund “zone” Here is a peak into our Refugee Ministry Office.
Each sheaf of paper in this photograph represents an individual or family of refugees.
Thank you all for recognizing and supporting our call to steadfastly serve them…….. END