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TBM council intends to create task force for assisting Ukrainian refugees

 'We're all aware the war in Ukraine is having a devastating effect on that country, and there are millions, literally millions of refugees,' said Mayor Alar Soever.
2020_03_10 TBM Town Hall_JG

The Town of The Blue Mountains (TBM) council has moved to create a task force to support needs of Ukrainian refugees fleeing their country.

Council members discussed local and regional efforts underway to assist Ukrainians at a meeting Mar. 15, and decided to put a task force in place to help coordinate efforts to assist and re-settle refugees.

 “We're all aware the war in Ukraine is having a devastating effect on that country, and there are millions, literally millions of refugees,” said Mayor Alar Soever.

Regional efforts to begin settling Ukrainian refugees are underway, though the timeline and number of refugees coming is still unclear.

Soever said that he has spoken to local groups and businesses who have demonstrated interest in re-settling Ukrainian refugees, and that people have begun reaching out to the town to offer help.

“I have talked to some of our accommodation business owners, and they have indicated that they have an interest in working with us,” he said. “I'm also starting to get emails - I got one this morning from a member of our community that is offering up their summer home as a residence for refugees, and offering to volunteer in any efforts that the town might advance.”

Council members suggested re-purposing the Community Recovery Task Force, which was originally created to assist with local and regional economic recovery throughout the pandemic.

Through the task force model, the town could coordinate efforts across a number of organizations to help bring refugees to the area.

“The recovery task force model worked quite well, where we invited anybody that was interested in helping out to come,” Soever said. “We had very strong representation from our religious community, [we had] Seniors Without Walls, the chair of the Beaver Valley Outreach. Certainly in this case, we'd want to expand that to the Red Cross and the Simcoe Muskoka United Way.”

Council members were eager to help find new homes for Ukrainians coming to Canada.

“There's the opportunity of having these wonderful people come and stay in TBM, should that work for their own agenda,” said Coun. Paula Hope. “It really does add to our plan of wanting diversity and younger families, so let's try to create a platform by which we can make it easy for others to help.”

“I don't think the town needs to do much more than coordinate these services,” said Coun. Rob Sampson. “We have a lot of good local services that can help out, it just seems some coordination might be helpful. If we can do this, I think it's great for not only our community, but the Ukrainians who are now trying to find temporarily, or maybe permanently, a new home.”

Council directed staff to draft terms of reference for the committee, to be considered at the next council meeting on Mar. 28.


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About the Author: Greg McGrath-Goudie, LJI Reporter

Greg McGrath-Goudie covers The Blue Mountains and Grey Highlands as part of the Local Journalism Initiative, which is funded by the Government of Canada
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