by Arnie Francis
Last Wednesday evening, October 12, St. Paul’s in Almonte played host to a UK “fact-finding” delegation. The UK delegation comprised Paul Morrision, director of the UK government’s Resettlement Programme, and Hannah Gregory, head of partnerships. They were accompanied by Kevin Farrell from the UK High Commission and Donald Smith from Ottawa’s Refugee Partnership. The UK government is looking to learn from Canada as it starts to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees over the next five years. They were particularly interested in Canada’s private sponsorship model.
The delegation listened to in-depth, passionate and insightful presentations from the CARR Group (Perth), the Project Arnprior Welcome Group and all four SRCMM groups and the SRCMM ESL Coordinator. Ahmed from Perth and the Jarouses also addressed the delegation. Thank you all!
