“Syria, Iran, Cameroon, Eritrea and Afghanistan. These worlds and these people are prominent at the Cathedral Church of St. James on King Street East as its refugee committee marks its 10th anniversary in November.
In autumn 2015, images of drowned Syrian-Kurdish refugee child Alan Kurdi face down on a beach galvanized many people to try to help those facing lives of unimaginable horror. The Kurdi family reportedly had hoped to reach Canada.
Rebecca McTaggart, co-chair of the St. James and Community Refugee Committee, says, “If you tell someone there are over 100 million displaced people in the world, it’s not particularly meaningful to them.”
Then she’ll tell the story of Bibi, a 71-year-old Afghan grandmother who was on her own, vulnerable to the Taliban – and brought to safety in Toronto, to join her children and grandchildren.
McTaggart, a long-time director-general of the Immigration and Refugee Board, says, “It’s not often that you get to say you’ve changed somebody’s life in some sort of fundamental way.” They’re here because “the level of oppression or fear or violence is such that they had no other choice. What we enable is for them to be able to start that new life in a new country, which is incredibly difficult.”
As part of the Diocese of Toronto, and with a committee of ten to twelve people, St James works with the Anglican United Refugee Alliance (AURA), the sponsorship agreement holder. The process may take up to a few years, with delays from countries overseas. Once in Canada, refugees are sponsored for 12 months.”
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