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Queen’s University
Vol. 143, Issue 20
Queen’s group helps refugees settle in Kingston
T u e s day , J a n ua ry 2 6 , 2 0 1 6
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R onen G oldfarb Contributor As thousands of Syrian refugees enter Canada, four third-year Queen’s Law students have been integral in helping refugees adjust to life in Kingston. In September, Rosa Stall, Lauren Wilson, Jess Spindler and Kaisha Thompson founded the Queen’s Law Refugee Support Program. The group said they saw a need for the program when they heard about law students and lawyers in Ottawa working together to guide clients through the process of sponsoring refugees in Canada. “I was reading about that in the paper and reached out to Jess, Lauren and Kaisha and said this is something we could do in Kingston,” Stall said. The student group focuses on assisting private sponsors with the legal work required to bring Syrian refugees to Canada. Taking in Syrian refugees was one of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s campaign promises during his campaign last year. Since he took office in November, Canada has promised to take in 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of February, with Kingston set to be one of the communities that will welcome government-assisted refugees. The students set up a Tilt campaign — a fundraising phone and web app — for one refugee, Peter. “On Tilt we had set a goal of $5,000. It’s about one third the cost of Peter’s sponsorship application. That’s a cost that his sponsors, who are all Queen’s professors, have incurred,” Thompson said. The fund has raised $1,793 on Tilt and $550 offline so far, bringing them to almost half their projected goal. Assistance for Peter isn’t strictly financial. The group also helped him to find work in the community. “We reached out to different employers when we found out that Peter had strong language skills,” Spindler said. “We knew he’d been a hairdresser in Syria and in Lebanon. And so we reached out to a couple different salons and were able to very quickly find him a job placement right away.
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE
NEWS
OPINIONS
ARTS
LIFESTYLE
LIFESTYLE
New Biotech program combines college and university education
Don’t be afraid to change your degree
Podcasting through hard times
Communally experiencing the worst movie ever made
Meet the student who runs a barber shop in residence
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