Windsor Resettlement Assistance Program (WRAP)
Every year, the Windsor Resettlement Assistance Program (WRAP) at the Multicultural Council of Windsor and Essex County (MCC) offers services to approximately 300 Government Assisted Refugees (GARs) destined to Windsor. WRAP is funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
In the past, WRAP successfully reached targeted objectives underlined in the Contribution Agreement between Citizenship and Immigration Canada and The Multicultural Council of Windsor and Essex County.
These objectives include; airport reception, providing temporary accommodation, orientating clients to life in the community, income support orientations, introducing them to their rights and responsibilities under the Resettlement Assistance Program, opening bank account, helping them secure permanent accommodation, applying for utilities, linking GARs to federal and provincial programs (i.e. SIN, OHIP and Child Tax Benefit etc. all this within the funding resources available. These objectives are achieved by utilizing our very experienced WRAP certified team and the assistance from our dedicated Language Aids complemented with the resources and community relations that the MCC have established.
A GAR is eligible to receive income support from CIC to cover their basic needs for their first year in Canada or until the GAR becomes financially self-sufficient.
WRAP Life Skills Program
The Life Skills component of the Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP) is designed to supplement the services provided to GARs upon their arrival to Canada. Intensive one on one orientation is delivered to clients in their own native languages upon moving to their permanent accommodations.
The Life Skills Program aims at enhancing GAR’s life skills in the following areas:
- Personal health and safety
- Safety at home
- Banking and budgeting
- Transportation
- Shopping
- Making and keeping appointments
- Information about community
Bhutanese Government Assisted Refugees to Windsor
There are over 100,000 Bhutanese refugees in camps in Nepal, and Canada has made a commitment to resettle 5000 of them across the country over the next 3-4 years by using the group processing methodology. Group processing is an innovative more systematic approach of resettling refugees strategically and in a more efficient manner throughout Canada.
Given the large number of refugees in Nepal, Canada wants to ensure that those most in need of its protection are selected for the Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP).
It is expected that the first arrivals of Bhutanese to Canada will begin in early 2009.
As of today, CIC still does not know the exact number of arrivals destined to Windsor and Essex County. The majority of those refugees have not lived in Bhutan for a long time; consequently they are more familiar with the Nepali than Bhutanese language. As part of the planning for the arrival of the Bhutanese we are in the process of recruiting as many Nepali-speaking Language Aids as possible.
Please do not hesitate to contact MCC’s Windsor Resettlement Assistance Program Manager, Sherry Kwan-Hopper at 519-255-1127 ext. 133, for further information or if you speak or know any individual that speaks one or more of the following dialects spoken in Bhutan; Assamese, Limbu, Santali, Sherpa, Gurung, Western Gurung and Eastern Magar, Dzongkha or Nepali.
Please note: WRAP services can only be provided to a Government Assisted Refugee (GAR). A GAR is an individual selected overseas by a Canadian visa officer as a Convention Refugee or as members of the Humanitarian Designated Class.
For more information can be found at the website of Citizenship and Immigration at http://www.cic.gc.ca
