Linda Coulter and John Tully from St. Andrew’s United Church answer questions after their presentation to City Council on Monday night regarding a motion for a community-wide campaign to raise funds to bring refugees to Sault Ste. Marie.

City Council approved a motion on Monday night to support a community-wide campaign to bring refugees to Sault Ste. Marie. It was announced during a presentation to council that St. Andrew’s United Church has sponsored a family of six from Thailand, who are scheduled to arrive later this month. The group was able to accomplish this through a sponsorship process, which church representative John Tully says can be complicated…

That means raising as much as 50 percent of the cost with the government of their income support for one year. It costs about 27 thousand dollars to sponsor a refugee family of four for that one year period. In his presentation, city councillor Steve Butland mentioned that the city has reached out to other churches, banks, credit unions and retailers among others to raise money to curb the refugee crisis occuring in countries half a world away. Tully talks about responsibilities that include covering some of the income costs for the next year…

Fellow St. Andrew’s representative Linda Coulter made a presentation to council. She says medical and criminology checks of the family have been completed. It’s not known yet where the family will live in the city after their arrival. Tully says it is something the church is working on and added two to three bedroom accomodations would be ideal in this case. Coulter is encouraged by the support her group is receiving in this endeavour…

There was no mention of any specific number of refugee or refugee families St. Andrew’s would like to see come to the city. Staff are just focusing on the one family that is on its way here. The Social Services Department will be the city’s lead agency in providing the required co-ordination in this matter.