Yukon Cares raising money to bring Syrian family to Whitehorse

Alongsidethe government's plan to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada, private sponsors are working independently to bring refugee families to their cities across the country.Yukon Caresis a group based out of Whitehorse, which is working to bring a Syrian refugee family to their city.RaqueldeQueirozis the main organizer of the project.Guest host of Cross Country Checkup, Piya Chattopadhyayspoke with de Queiroz on Sunday.

Take a listen:

Cross Country Checkup6:26November 22, 2015 - GUEST: Raquel de Queiroz on refugee settlement in the Yukon

Amid renewed security concerns, and with groups across the country still scrambling to find housing and resources, some are asking: Is Canada ready to settle 25,000 Syrian refugees by yearend?

Piya Chattopadhyay: Take us back to the beginning. How did you and your friends and your neighbours in Whitehorse get involved in trying to bringa Syrian family to the Yukon.

GuestRaquel de Queiroz: Back in September when the picture of that little boy came up, I just thought that something needed to be done andthere must be other people in the community who also want to do something about this. So I created a Facebook event, made a reservation at the library and put posters around town that said, "Come for an information session about sponsoring refugees." And a 100 people showed up.

PC: A 100people showed up!

RDQ: Yes and that's how we started Yukon Cares.

PC: There's a 100 people involved in your group?

RDQ: At least a 100. Our Facebook group hasabout 200 members. I call it "the army of volunteers"--anything we need we just put it out to them and it's done.

PC: With this group you've applied to bringa Syrian refugee family to Canada?

RDQ: Yes.

PC: And is there a specific family that you're trying to bring over?

RDQ: Yes. We are usingthe channels that are already in place through the government. We are a private sponsor, so, we partner with a sponsorship agreement holder, which in our case is the Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver. Through them we signed the papers, the Memorandum of Understanding, and then we applied through the BVR program--

PC: That's the Blended Visa--it's a faster track in the private realm of all this. That's what you've gone through?

RDQ: Exactly. We've been matched with a family--a mum and dad and eight children. They are just having their visa officer interview, which has been pending for over a month now.

PC: Where are they, this family?

RDQ: Lebanon.

PC: What do you know about them?

RDQ: Not very much. All we know is their ages and genders and where they are right now. So not very much information at this point.

PC: It's a family of 10--t wo adults, eight children -- how much money do you need to raise to support a family of that size?

RDQ: Our budget, including the worst case scenario type of budget, we were aiming for about $40,000. We are hoping a lot of that money will come as donation with furniture and clothes, and things that we need. We've got already $38,000 raised. Now we're starting to support another group in town that wants to sponsor a family as well through the Baptist Church. We're going to help them financially as well.

PC: How did you raise the money?

RDQ: It was very easy because the support of the community is so big. For example, we did a spaghetti fundraiser that we put 200 tickets out and we sold out within 20 minutes of opening the doors--then we served spaghetti to 200 people and raised $11,000 in one night. We also openeda GoFundMe account and people started donating money through that account. And people were dropping cheques at the church, finding us, emailing us. It was not difficult at all.

PC: When do you expect your family to arrive? Do you know?

RDQ: Well Murphy's law says they'll arrive at the worst time possible--winter. I'm really hoping they'll be here soon, and we're getting ready for them to be here before Christmas.

PC: No matter where you livein Canada it's difficult to find housing for ten people. Where are they going to stay?

RDQ: We already have a house. Somebody from the community said, "Hey I have a four-bedroom house that I want to be used for this." And we'll be paying rent, low rent--just the price of the mortgage. Now we're just getting the furniture in and getting everything ready.

There are other people in the community who are saying, "Hey I have a cabin," or, "I have extra space in my house." It's been really wonderful to see how generous people are.

PC: And what is your commitment as a private sponsor of a family? How long do you have to financially provide for them and provide them housing?

RDQ: The agreement is one year or until they can survive on their own. The last family that we brought to Whitehorse was a Kosovan family and they were self-sufficient in three-months. The private sponsors could roll that money over to sponsor another family or they didn't need to continue for the full year.

Our family, I think, will need a bit more support because they don't speak any English. I think we're going to need to really help them and set them up for success in the future by doing a bit more in this first year.

PC: You immigrated to Canada from Brazil--different circumstances obviously, but you're a person who moved here. Did your own experiences immigrating to Canada influence your decision to get involved in this cause and if so, what's your advice to other Canadians who say they want to do this too? You moved to this country, what were the barriers for you..what do people need to do to help people who have come here?

RDQ: Canadians, I think, are the best in the world for this. When I arrived inthis country, I was impressed with how welcoming people were. I was a nurse from Brazil, and I arrived in a hospital in Terrace, B.C. without even knowing what a tympanicthermometerlooked like! The nurses just took me under their wings and taught me so much. They were so welcoming of having me there in their community. It really inspired me.

The other side of it is being from another country, you seewhat real povertylooks like. I've seen what real poverty looks like in Brazil and in the year I spent working in Colombia withDoctors Without Borders. You cannot turn your back on those people after you've seen them.