Chatham-Kent reaffirmed their stance on being an open and inclusive community on Monday night.
Drawing inspiration from the recent repatriation for John Robert Gallagher, South Kent Coun. Trevor Thompson said he wanted to ensure Chatham-Kent was ready to accept refugees into the community.
“We should at the very least reiterate that we are an open and inclusive community here,” Thompson said. “I would like ot move that the Mayor’s office, on behalf of the Mayor and council, that we affirm the position that Chatham-Kent is in fact an open inclusive community for people of all backgrounds, with a drafted open letter that will be forwarded to all members of the local media to that effect.”
Thompson added there has been a lot of talk in regards to the 25,000 refugees from Syria coming to Canada, with 10,000 of those coming to Ontario.
Thompson said he was curious how many of those people may be coming to Chatham Kent.
Don Shropshire, CAO, said municipal administration is looking into it.
Dr. April Rietdyk “did participate in a briefing from the Provincial and Federal Governments at the end of last week,” Shropshire said.
“We are planning on meeting (Tuesday) morning to have a discussion amongst our staff about that initial briefing. We are going to try and identify the support we have in Chatham-Kent wanting to accept refugees.”
Shropshire said staff will come back to council with more information in the next one or two weeks.
Good day,
As promised Municipal staff have investigated the issue of refugees from Syria immigrating to Chatham Kent. A number of local organizations including churches, voluntary sector organizations and concerned citizens have stepped up to offer hope and assistance to the refugees.
We have posted information on our out Municipal website at the following link that answers frequently asked questions and outlines how our citizens can offer support. The information can be found at the following link.
http://www.chatham-kent.ca/news/Pages/Refugees-Chatham-Kentisreadytohelp.aspx
As it becomes available additional information will be posted on the Municipal website. At present, there is no plan to bring this issue back to Council.