The Home Office is hosting a series of roadshows across the UK between 17-20 July 2017 on Community Sponsorship of Refugees. The Roadshows will be held in Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Kingston and Wales.
The Roadshows have been organised in order to explore the opportunity to welcome refugees into your community through the Community Sponsorship scheme, celebrate the first year of the programme and learn how sponsorship has transformed the lives of thousands of refugees and many communities in Canada.
The Home Office Resettlement, Asylum Support and Integration Directorate are inviting you as they believe that you could play an important role in helping support the growth of the Community Sponsorship scheme here in the U.K. This will be a unique opportunity to hear from, and network with, the leading figures in refugee sponsorship from the UK and Canada, and to discover how we might encourage communities right across the UK to get involved in welcoming refugees.
The events will feature a special delegation from Canada including:
- Prof Jennifer Bond, Chair of the Global Refugee Sponsorship Initiative
- Mayor Henderson, Mayor of Brockville Ontario
- Brian Dyck, Chair of the Canadian Refugee Sponsorship Agreement Holders Council
- Chris Gregory, Director of Protection Policy, Refugee Affairs, Government of Canada
- Yosief Araya, Manager at the Refugee Sponsorship Training Programme (RSTP)
Since 1979, local groups in Canada have been welcoming refugees into their communities through private sponsorship and have made welcoming refugees into their communities an essential aspect of their national identity. The UK Community Sponsorship scheme, which was launched by the current Home Secretary, Rt Hon Amber Rudd MP in July 2016, has been inspired by the Canadian model.
Canadian dignitaries will be joined by senior representatives from the Home Office Resettlement, Asylum Support and Integration Directorate, as well as leading voices on community sponsorship in the UK, including some of our first community sponsors, for an inspiring conversation about refugee sponsorship.
The evening will be a rare chance to hear from high profile figures on how to make Community Sponsorship a success in the UK.