Kelowna leads refugee team

Photo: CTV

The Kelowna Community Resources Society has been chosen to lead a refugee response team in the Southern Interior.

The team will help the few refugees who've decided to settle and integrate into communities, including Kelowna, Kamloops, Salmon Arm, Penticton and Vernon. Secondary teams may be located in parts of the Kootenays.

So far, only a few families have settled in the Thompson-Okanagan.

These include four recently-arrived, government-sponsored families in Kelowna and some privately-sponsored families in Salmon Arm.

In Kamloops, a few families are settling in after being sponsored by the Kamloops Islamic Association.

In Vernon, despite anticipating between 30-50 government-sponsored Syrians in the community, not one has arrived. In the South Okanagan, a handful of Syrian families have settled in Summerland, Penticton, Oliver and Cawston.

So far, the government has pledged $30,000 in initial funding for the new team to “identify and prioritize short-term community needs to support a co-ordinated approach to helping refugees,” stated a government caucus release.

The main focus will be to find work for the refugees. MSP premiums are waived for refugees and child care subsidies are offered.