LOCAL refugee support group Rural Australian Refugees Bendigo are ramping up their efforts to raise money to resettle a refugee from Nauru and Manus Island in Canada.<\/p>\n
Aiming to riase $18,500, RAR representative Helen Musk said people can make a tax deductable donation, with money going to Canadian groups Ads-Up and MOSAIC to give a stranded refugee hope.<\/p>\n
\u201cAds-Up is made up of ex-expatriate Australians in Canada who\u2019ve looked on and said this is disgusting we have to do something as Australians,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Ms Musk said the process to be settled is quite long but overall beneficial for refugees looking for a better life.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Canadian government allows refugee groups to sponsor individual refugees and the deal is they have to raise money to support them for one year, they have to look after them when they arrive,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have to find housing for them, enrol their kids into school, find them jobs and look after them for a year, and they\u2019ve got 200 places allocated for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have to be suitable for resettlement so they\u2019re looking for people with some skills and some English,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other lovely thing about it is they\u2019re looking for people that want to be reunified with their families, so if they get a place in Canada, they\u2019ll bring their family to meet them.\u201d<\/p>\n
RAR groups in Castlemaine and Aireys Inlet have both held similar, successful campaigns supporting refugees.<\/p>\n
\u201cCastlemaine got $18,500 in two weeks, in fact, they raised $36,000,\u201d Ms Musk said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAireys Inlet did it and raised $45,000, so I\u2019m saying to our group surely in Bendigo we can do it, but we haven\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Musk said while Australians have raised $2.5 million to support the initiative, the government needs to do more to support refugees.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government says they\u2019re not in detention and they\u2019re not, but they\u2019ve got no citizenship rights, no work rights in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, so they\u2019re just existing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people the government kindly let out of hotels, these men were transported to motels which were in industrial areas and they were given $150 and told they have six months to work out how to get away from Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n
RAR is committed to supporting medevac refugees and people seeking asylum in any way they can.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a program here where we invite people up for the weekend and it\u2019s meant to be a holiday, we don\u2019t talk about their lives, it\u2019s just a time in the country,\u201d Ms Musk said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of those medevac people are coming up the second weekend in May.\u201d<\/p>\n