Identity area
Type of entity
Corporate body
Authorized form of name
MCC Canada Migration and Resettlement Program
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
- MCC Canada Refugee Assistance Program
- MCC Canada Refugee and Immigration Program
- MCC Canada Refugee Concerns Program
- MCC Canada Refugee Program
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1979 -
History
MCC Canada’s Migration and Resettlement Program was established in 1979 in response to calls from Canadian Mennonite and Brethren in Christ congregations to provide ways to help resettle Southeast Asian refugees in Canada. MCC Canada negotiated a two-year agreement with the Canadian government to create the private refugee sponsorship program – the first organization to establish such an agreement. While MCC Canada had a coordinating role to play, most of the work of welcoming refugees was split between each provincial MCC and the Canadian government; congregations were responsible for meeting the refugees upon their arrival in Canada, helping them settle, and providing them with financial assistance for up to one year while the government paid for healthcare costs, language training, employment services, and interest free loans for transportation to Canada. The sponsorship program proved to be so successful that MCC Canada and the Canadian government agreed to renew the agreement after the initial two-year period.
The Migration and Resettlement Program reported to MCC Binational’s Coordinator of Overseas Services until 1995 when it became part of MCC Canada’s National Program Department. The program went through several name changes: Refugee Concerns (1981-1985, 1988-1997), Refugee Sponsorship/Resettlement (1986), Refugees and Immigration (1987), Refugee Assistance (1997-2014), and Migration and Resettlement (2014-). While carrying out its own program activities, MCC Canada’s Migration and Resettlement Program also works closely with provincial MCC refugee assistance programs across Canada.
Places
MCC Akron Office; MCC Canada Winnipeg Office.
Legal status
Functions, occupations and activities
MCC Canada’s Migration and Resettlement Program negotiates with the Canadian federal government to facilitate refugee sponsorship on behalf of Anabaptist churches.
Mandates/sources of authority
Internal structures/genealogy
Refugee Concerns reported to MCC Binational’s Overseas Services Department until 1995 when responsibility for the program was transferred to MCC Canada’s National Program Department. It has remained one of MCC Canada’s core national programs.
General context
Relationships area
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Related entity
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Description of relationship
Access points area
Subject access points
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Occupations
Control area
Authority record identifier
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Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Draft
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Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Created by Jared Warkentin, March 24, 2020
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Sources
Epp-Tiessen, Esther. Mennonite Central Committee in Canada: A History. Winnipeg: CMU Press, 2013.