Canada’s private refugee sponsorship program has been widely celebrated in recent years as a unique policy framework that allows citizens to actively participate in the process of refugee protection. Sponsors commit to providing funds to cover the first year of settlement in Canada, while the government provides health care, education, language training and some other costs. The popularity of this policy meant that more than half of the Syrian refugees who recently arrived in Canada came under private sponsorship. Next year, the Government of Canada expects private sponsors to take responsibility for resettling almost twice as many refugees as the government itself.

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