Danielle Steenwyk-Rowaan is Justice Communications Team Coordinator for the Christian Reformed Centre for Public Dialogue.
The work of justice is best when it’s shared, so it’s been a pleasure for us to work with CPJ, World Renew, Mennonite Central Committee, and others to encourage Canada to make sponsorship programs more welcoming and just. We affectionately call this the Half Welcome advocacy partnership.
Most refugees arrive in Canada already indebted to the government by $3,000 to $10,000 for the costs incurred in bringing them to this land, including medical exams, travel documents, and plane tickets. They must begin repaying this loan within one year, when they have barely begun to regain their footing.
Here’s our proposal: waive the loan repayment requirement for all refugees.
By Danielle Steenwyk-Rowaan
We are called to welcome the stranger, because we need them. I need them, in a deep and sometimes mysterious way. This subversive biblical teaching, along with the call to welcome because we have been welcomed, breaks down the charity mindset and the delusion of self-sufficiency.
