Fort Nelson group collecting donations for potential refugee family

FORT NELSON, B.C. — A Fort Nelson group is looking to sponsor refugees in the Northern Rockies.

In the Regional Municipality’s Jan. 11 meeting, a delegation appeared before Council to provide more information about their efforts to sponsor refugees coming to Canada.

After discussing how the Northern Rockies, and other smaller communities in Canada, are equipped to help refugees settle, Council passed a resolution in support of the sponsorship effort.

Though there don’t seem to be any refugees settled in the town yet, the group is hopeful they can raise enough money to sponsor a family.

“FNCLS is the fund administrator and can provide charitable gift receipts to those wishing to contribute, with $3,500 already raised to date,” a highlights newsletter from Council reads.

For those interested in donating to the group, donations are being collected at the Fort Nelson North Peace Savings and Credit Union, as well as through a GoFundMe Campaign.

Edit: An earlier publication of this story indicated that ‘The Fort Nelson Refugee Sponsorship Group had received help from the local Fort Nelson Community Literacy Society (FNCLS)’s English as a Second Language and Settlement Program — who has agreed to provide $20,000 cash and $20,000 in-kind support to supplement the Resettlement Assistance Program.’

This is not correct. As per Seanah Roper, Executive Director of the Literacy Society, a local Refugee Sponsorship Group presented its initiative to the regional municipality’s meeting, stating that it was tasked at raising upwards of $40,000 to sponsor a family.

In another initiative, FNCLS presented on settlement services we provide and the supports in place in the community should we receive a refugee family.

In no way does FNCLS provide funding for sponsoring refugees.