Yellowknife group approved to sponsor family of Syrian refugees
Federal government approves group of 6 Yellowknifers to sponsor family of 6
The federal government has approved a group of six people in Yellowknife to privately sponsor a family of Syrian refugees.
Yellowknife residents and the territorial government have been looking at ways to help with the Syrian refugee crisis since September, but none have arrived in the Northwest Territories yet.
"It was very happy news for us," says Nazim Awan, one of the sponsors.
"We know they are a family of six, four boys and their parents, and we know the boys are between seven and 14."
The group applied to sponsor the family in December. Awan says they selected the family from a list of 200, specifically because the children are relatively young.
"They are of the age group where they will be in Yellowknife, if they chose to stay here, five years at least. This will give us an opportunity to work with them longer, and for them to really calm down and understand the Canadian culture and way of life," Awan says.
'They literally have nothing'
The group expects the family to arrive in the next few weeks. They've secured a condo for the parents and children, but there is still a lot of work to be done.
"We've got to completely furnish an apartment, including everything: cutlery, plates, food to stock their kitchen," says Bob Horton, one of the six sponsors.
"It's not like you start up and you've got your clothes and you've got a few things put together. They literally have nothing when they arrive."
But clothes and furniture aren't the only things on Horton's mind — the group still needs to raise about $50,000. But Horton says he's not too worried.
"There's a lot of people who really care and are reaching out to us, actually contacting us, saying 'How can we help? Can we contribute financially?'"
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