The federal government needs to allocate more resources to reduce wait times for privately sponsored refugees, especially those coming from places other than Syria, a new survey says.
The report was commissioned by Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ), an Ottawa-based Christian charity that tries to influence public policy debates on a number of issues, including refugee rights.
CPJ executive director Joe Gunn said his own congregation in Ottawa applied to sponsor a Syrian family in autumn 2015. “There was money collected, all kinds of furniture and everything was prepared, but we waited and a family didn’t arrive until March 2017,” he said.