Each year, four refugee students are supported in Estrie through the Student Refugee Program (SRP) of WUSC, World University Service of Canada.
Cégep de Sherbrooke, the University of Sherbrooke, Bishop’s University and the College of Champlain are participating in the initiative.
The Program Officer for the Refugee Student Program at WUSC, said the goal is to create a more equitable world by helping students.
WUSC helps each year on average every 150 per year so more than 10,000 since 1978.
This is a unique program in the world. We can do this through private sponsorship from Canada. We have agreements with the governments of Quebec and Canadaexplanation by Catherine Veillet-St-Amant.
He points out that local committees on campuses are important in this process.
Students, faculty, staff and community members provide social, financial, health and academic support. This is why we are unique on the part of the school. There is one-on-one support to these refugee students by helping them in all aspects. Assistance is provided for at least twelve monthsreasoning by Catherine Veillet-Saint-Amant.
He noticed that the help made a big difference.
They are refugees whose only solution is to settle in a third country. Their country is often at war. In a perfect world, they could return to their country if the conflict is resolved, but they generally stay here. They get a diploma from Quebec and can contribute to our societypromote EUMC program manager.
” They are people confined in a refugee camp with no access to post-secondary education or employment. This will allow them to have a good future and help their families. “
He believes that educational institutions have made a significant contribution to this success.
Access to education remains a factor contributing to the inclusion of immigrants. Integration requires economic integration. School support helps meet this need.believes Catherine Veillet-Saint-Amant.
The refugees who helped came from Congo, Burundi, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan.
Ukraine is a special situation because refugees come here with temporary visas that are not compatible with our program. Our students arrive with permanent residency that provides access to Canadian citizenship. Right now we cannot work with students from Ukrainesaid Catherine Veillet-Saint-Amant.
He recalled that there are 28 million refugees in the world.
We aim to increase the number of people we can help. We are recruiting other educational institutions to host these students. Our Local Campus Committees have spread the word about taking action to build more community-friendly communitiesexplanation by Catherine Veillet-Saint-Amant.
Source: Radio-Canada
