Group of Five Refugee Sponsors Needed

CFIC has been asked by to help with resettling an ex-Muslim activist, to Halifax, Nova Scotia. The refugee has escaped Iran and been in Turkey for almost a decade. He has a sponsorship all paid up and waiting for him in Halifax. The program, however, requires five other volunteers local to Halifax to step up to be registered volunteers of his sponsorship group. 

The refugee needs local volunteers in Halifax to be sponsors, because the Sponsorship Agreement Holder providing the funding is also based in Halifax. There’s no financial component for these additional five volunteer sponsors. All that is required is to be a local support to this refugee, to help him navigate things like renting an apartment, setting up healthcare, opening a bank account, and just everyday things we may take for granted in an environment familiar to us.

We’re not limited to ex-Muslims and we’re not even limited to atheists. Sponsors just have to want to help. In our EXMTO group (the Ex-Muslims of Toronto), we have a couple of sponsors participating in this program, including Ali A. Rizvi, author of the formative book The Atheist Muslim. The only other requirement is that they commit to a year in their volunteering role.

For anyone interested, please get in touch with Sohail Ahmad (contact info below). Additionally, if you have contacts in Halifax who might be interested, or if you know of people in secular groups in Halifax who can share this request with a captive audience, that would also be much appreciated. 

Sohail Ahmad — President, Ex-Muslims of Toronto — can be reached here. 

NOTE: We have to be careful using the refugee’s name in any public forum. Iran has been known to send assassins, even to Canadian cities.