Operation Not Forgotten was developed in 2019 as a community-led response to provide private sponsorship to Canada for refugees who had been in Australia’s offshore processing regime since 2013 and had no viable resettlement options. The initiative focused particularly on refugees who had been excluded from Australia’s resettlement deal with the United States.
As at June 2026, Operation Not Forgotten has enabled 138 refugees to begin a new life in Canada – 77 people who suffered for years in detention in Papua New Guinea (PNG) or Nauru and 61 long-separated family members who have been reunited with their loved ones. The Canadian Government is currently considering applications for another 49 refugees – 21 people who were subject to Australia’s offshore detention policy and 28 separated family members linked to people already in Canada or those still waiting in PNG or on bridging visas in Australia.
New applications for sponsorship to Canada under Operation Not Forgotten have now closed. The growing backlog for Canada’s Private Sponsorship of Refugees program has slowed the finalisation of applications to the point where any new applications lodged now would not be resolved for several years. Only a few applications have been lodged since 2022, when the Australian Government finally accepted New Zealand’s long-standing offer to assist. Resettlement to New Zealand has proven to offer a faster alternative for refugees not accepted by the United States.
Who is involved in Operation #NotForgotten
The organisations working together as part of Operation Not Forgotten are:
- MOSAIC, a migrant and refugee settlement service based in Vancouver, is the Operation Not Forgotten coordinator.
- Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) has promoted and coordinated donations from Australians and is advocating with governments to address any logistical issues to facilitate resettlement.
- Ads Up Canada Refugee Network has assisted MOSAIC with the recruitment and support of volunteers in Canada to provide settlement support for refugees for the 12 months after their arrival in Canada.
- UNHCR’s Canberra office offers advice to Operation Not Forgotten’s partners.
How we’ve been helping people’s path to freedom
After 20 years of progressively harsher responses to people arriving without visas by boat to seek refugee protection, on 19 July 2013 the Australian Government announced that any future arrivals would be sent to offshore detention in PNG or Nauru and never be allowed to settle in Australia. In the year that followed, 3,189 people were sent to detention in Nauru or PNG and, of these, at least 2,122 people were recognised as needing refugee protection.
In 2016, the United States agreed to resettle up to 1,250 recognised refugees subject to Australia’s offshore processing policy. By early 2019, there was a growing number of refugees in Nauru and PNG who had been rejected for US resettlement without explanation and had no practical alternative available.
While the Canadian Government would not offer places in its Government Assisted Refugee program to refugees held in Australia’s offshore detention centres in Nauru and PNG, from late 2017 a small number of refugees from those centres began arriving in Canada as privately sponsored refugees. In May 2019, Laurie Cooper of Canada Caring, a private sponsorship group in British Columbia, spoke to RCOA about building a network of people in Australia and Canada to support sponsorship to Canada of refugees in PNG and Nauru with no other resettlement options.
Australian-based supporters of people in offshore detention began raising funds and RCOA took on responsibility for receiving and managing funds from Australian donors. At Laurie Cooper’s request, MOSAIC took on the major responsibility of coordinating the lodging of sponsorship applications and managing post-arrival support for the first year after sponsored refugees arrived in Canada. Teams of volunteers in Australia assisted MOSAIC with the preparation of documentation required for sponsorship applications. Ads Up Canada Refugee Network joined the partnership, assisting MOSAIC to coordinate volunteers involved in supporting refugees settling in Ontario and other provinces.
Canada’s Private Sponsorship of Refugees program requires sponsors to raise sufficient funds to cover a refugee’s living costs for their first year in Canada. Newcomers to Canada (whether refugees or migrants) are not eligible for income support through provincial governments during their first 12 months in the country. The Canadian Government sets minimum rates of financial assistance which sponsors need to raise before an application can be advanced. These minimum rates are regularly reviewed as costs increase and are currently around AUD$23,000 for an individual and AUD$38,000 for a family of four. Operation Not Forgotten has provided some additional funding to cover unmet costs relating to housing, urgent medical needs and training for employment.
Given the sponsorship program also reunites families which have been separated by refugee flight, funds and support must be available for a spouse or children under 22 years who are in other countries.
The first applications were lodged in December 2019 and the first refugees sponsored under Operation Not Forgotten made it to Canada in December 2021.
What we’ve achieved so far
As at 4 June 2026, 77 refugees from offshore detention have been sponsored to Canada from Nauru, PNG or temporary residency in Australia. In addition, 61 long-separated family members have been reunited – 138 people in total have begun a new life in Canada. Another three family members of refugees already in Canada hope to be reunited soon.
The Operation Not Forgotten team is waiting for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to finalise 21 sponsorship applications for refugees who were subject to the offshore processing policy – two refugees in PNG, 15 in Australia and a family of four in Cambodia who were resettled under Australia’s failed resettlement deal with that country. Associated with these applications are 25 family members who will become eligible for resettlement if and when the principal applicants reach Canada.
Since the first refugees arrived in the United States in September 2017 under the resettlement arrangement signed a year earlier between the Obama administration in Washington and the Turnbull government in Australia, around 1,670 refugees affected by the offshore processing policy have been resettled in other countries – 1,115 in the United States, 108 in Canada (including 77 through Operation Not Forgotten and 31 through other sponsorship arrangements), 27 in European countries through UNHCR and around 420 in New Zealand.
Australia’s resettlement deal with New Zealand is in its final stages. Once it has concluded, there will be no realistic resettlement options available for around 750 refugees who have been in limbo since 2013 or 2014 under Australia’s offshore processing policy. The Refugee Council of Australia is urging the Australian Government to accept this reality and offer permanent residency to those who remain.
