The Co-operators commits $250,000 to helping Syrian refugees gain employment

The Co-operators Group Ltd. announced Monday it has committed $250,000 towards preparing Syrian refugees for employability in Canada and will let its own employees take up to two paid days off a year to volunteer.

“The company will be reaching out to organizations offering programs specifically designed to help Syrian refugees integrate by preparing them for employability,” a company spokesperson told Canadian Underwriter. “This could include a number of services and supports that will help refugees gain economic self-reliance and employment in Canada.”

The Guelph, Ont.-based insurer has committed $250,000 towards “a special one-time grant program” through The Co-operators Foundation’s Community Economic Development Fund. That program would “support organizations’ initiatives aimed at preparing refugees for employability in Canada.” It would only be available to organizations in Canada. 

The federal government has committed to bringing 25,000 Syrian refugees into Canada “by the end of 2016,” said Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Liberal MP for the Toronto riding of Beaches-East York, in the House of Commons Dec. 8. “We will have 15,000 government-sponsored Syrian refugees by the end of February 2016 and the remainder over the rest of the year. We will exceed those targets with respect to private sponsorship.”

In the House of Commons Dec. 10, Conservative MP Tony Clement noted that ISIS has executed more than 3,000 people in the past year, citing a report from Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

“Among the thousands of Arab and Kurdish civilians executed by the group in Syria last year, 86 were women,” Clement told the Commons. “The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child released a report in February, documenting the many horrors ISIS has imposed on children who are Kurdish, Yazidi, Christian, and Muslim. Children, even those who are mentally challenged, are being tortured, crucified, buried alive, used as suicide bombers, and sold as sex slaves, according to this report, and there is no reason to doubt its veracity.”

ISIS “seeks to inspire terrorist attacks for the mass displacement of refugees and for the intimidation of others,” Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said Dec. 10 in the Commons in response to comments from Clement and James Bezan, Conservative MP for the Manitoba riding of Selkirk-Interlake-Eastman.

“To combat these threats, we need to be flexible and measured and have a multi-faceted approach, an approach that will continue to battle ISIL on multiple fronts and which addresses the political, social and economic drivers fuelling the conflict in Iraq and Syria,” Sajjan added. “These approaches include hindering the flow of foreign fighters, addressing the humanitarian needs, and halting ISIL’s financing and funding. We are taking important steps on these fronts, not the least of which is the acceptance of 25,000 Syrian refugees.”

In its press release Monday, the Co-operators said it is “encouraging employees to volunteer to help the many initiatives underway in Canadian communities to welcome the newcomers.”

Its corporate employees “are eligible to use two paid days a year to volunteer, and staff-led Volunteers In Action chapters across the country connect them with local organizations,” The Co-operators added.

That policy does not apply to The Co-operators agents, who hire their own employees.

Photo:  Syrian refugees are processed in Montreal Dec. 12, 2015 by the Canada Border Services Agency. Photo courtesy of Canada Border Services Agency