What’s so special about Canada? How ordinary Canadians successfully sponsor refugees

Thousands of Canadians – businesses, church and community groups – have decided to sponsor refugees in the past couple of years. Why? How does it work? And are there lessons for Australia and other countries in their experience?

Professor Audrey Macklin, Chair in Human Rights Law and Director of the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto, will explain Canada’s private sponsorship program, which enables ordinary citizens to take on the responsibilities of resettling a refugee.

Since the 1970s, private sponsors have committed to giving emotional and financial support to an individual refugee resettling in Canada through a program unique in the world. Sponsors are involved at every step in the process, from initial paperwork to screening to setting up house. More than 280,000 people have resettled in Canada through this program. A sponsor herself, Professor Macklin in 2017 won a prestigious Pierre Elliott Trudeau Fellowship to conduct empirical research about the impacts of Canada’s private sponsorship program.

Australia is currently establishing the Community Support Program, enabling community sponsorship of humanitarian entrants. As this program gets under way, what can we learn from Canada?

Powerpoint slides from this presentation are available here.

About the speaker

Professor Audrey Macklin is the Director of the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies, the Chair in Human Rights Law at the Faculty of Law, and teaches at the School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Toronto. From 1994 to 1996, Professor Macklin was a member of Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board, where she adjudicated refugee claims. She has acted as pro bono intervener counsel or academic legal advisor in several public interest human rights cases. She has written widely in the areas of migration and citizenship law, gender, multiculturalism, business and human rights, and administrative law, and is frequently sought for comment in domestic and international media.