In 2015, a dedicated group of volunteers from the Redeemer and the wider community came together to support the work of sponsoring individuals and families who are refugees.
Welcoming the stranger. This is a major focus of Redeemer’s mission, whether in welcoming the marginalized to The Common Table or through sponsorship of refugees.
Over the past five years, Redeemer has settled eleven people from three countries. The first, a young man from The Gambia, now lives in Ottawa. In the second sponsorship, we welcomed members of an extended family from Burma/Myanmar, who had been living in a refugee camp in Thailand for years. The third group, four young Eritrean men, had travelled through Sudan and Egypt to Israel, where they lived under threat of being returned to Eritrea.
COVID has affected us all, from here in downtown Toronto to the entire world. While it has been two years since Church of the Redeemer last sponsored a group of refugees (4 young men from Eritrea), the committee has continued meeting occasionally, both to share our own circumstances and to exchange news and maintain hope that we will be able to welcome another group once travel restrictions are lifted.
The committee is working with AURA (Anglican United Refugee Alliance) to sponsor a Somali family of 7, currently living in a Kenyan refugee camp. We hope that they will be able to arrive by 2022.
Members of the Refugee Settlement Committee strongly support interfaith outreach and connection as part of our ministry, and are dedicated to Redeemer’s mission of welcoming the stranger. We look forward to potential future sponsorships.
For further information or to become involved, please contact Alison Colvin or Henry Krol.
Current news
Refugee Settlement Interview
On Sunday, December 10, 2017, the Rev’d Paul MacLean, an Honorary Assistant at Church of the Redeemer and a member of the Refugee Settlement Committee, interviewed two other members of the committee in order to give the parish a deeper understanding of the ministry they are pursuing.
