People rally for refugees in Regina

About 100 people at a rally in downtown Regina Tuesday expressed support for bringing more refugees to Canada.

Many were moved by the current refugee crisis affecting Syria.

People in Regina, who have experience with sponsoring refugees, note the process is complicated and can be slow.

"It's a long waiting process,"Ralph Paragg, a sponsorship coordinator in Regina, said. Paragg has been working on bringing a family from Iraq to Canada.

"They have to make an application, they have to fill out certain forms," he said. "There are some forms where if you make a mistake, it has to be corrected. So you have to go back and forth. And many of these people may not be fluent in English."

Paragg is the volunteer refugee coordinator for the Anglican Diocese of Qu'Appelle, which includes Regina.

He spoke about some of the ways to sponsor a refugee, including working through a church group or a community organization registered with the federal immigration office. Another way is for five people to get together and go through the process, although he said that can be very cumbersome.

"It's a lot of paperwork," he said.

When it comes to finding someone to sponsor, many groups work with an association that has contact with the federal immigration office, known as Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), which has programs set up to link refugees with potential sponsors.

In some cases, refugees have been approved to come to Canada but need some community support upon arrival.

CIC provides some funding to groups to assist such refugees, he noted.

Paragg said the process can be challenging as officials sometimes ask for detailed documentation.

One case they are working on involvesa family fleeingIraq.

"When people flee they don't necessarily take all these documents with them," he said.

He said increasing the number of people getting to Canada, in a timely way, may require changes to procedures.

"Saying we should open our doors to immigrants, under the present processes, this is something we can't [do]," he said. "You know, just show your ID and walk in. It doesn't happen that way."