Refugee sponsorship on Vancouver Island

Rebecca brings 14 years of experience in coordinating and teaching in a variety of settlement and language programs for newcomers. She was contracted by the province of Manitoba to create new programing for newcomers, and has been involved with pilot projects for orientation and training. Rebecca holds degrees in international studies, conflict resolution studies, business administration, and an MA in Applied Linguistics.

As Rebecca grew up in Colombia during the 80s and 90s, she was well exposed to the impact of war and unrest. In 2014 she was invited to Lebanon, near the border of Syria, to observe and assist with local supports for Syrian refugees. She came back with a vision to specialize in supporting refugee newcomers.  

After taking on the role of Refugee Program Coordinator at the Anglican Diocese of BC in 2016, the program grew twenty-fold in response to the war in Syria and subsequent refugee crisis. Over 800 volunteers in our community signed up to participate in this sponsorship program. They have landed 180 refugees on Vancouver Island, and are expecting 176 to arrive in the next year.

In 2016, the UN hailed Canadian private sponsorship as a model for the world. Rebecca will give you an overview of our local private sponsorship program at the Anglican Diocese of BC and list its best practices. She will look at the challenges and successes of families who arrived through the program as well as highlight what changes we are recommending to the Canadian government, as we see their hailed system has flaws.