After years of lobbying from the Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA), the Department of Home Affairs has paid AU$264,000 (CA$233,864) to cover the travel loans paid or owed by refugees sponsored to Canada after years of detention on Nauru and Manus Island.
RCOA first raised this issue in 2021, prior to the arrival in Canada of refugees sponsored through ONF. In our advocacy, we noted that the Australian Government had contributed significantly to support the resettlement of refugees in the United States but the costs of sponsorship to Canada were being fully covered by Australian and Canadian donors and organisations.
The Department of Home Affairs rejected our initial request. We raised the issue again in 2022 after the change of government, adding our concern that refugees were facing higher travel repayments because the Australian Government was preventing them from transiting through Australian airports on their way to Canada from Nauru or PNG.
Under Canada’s private sponsorship program, travel is arranged by the International Organization for Migration on behalf of the Canadian Government but the refugees must enter into a loan agreement to begin repaying 12 months after their arrival in Canada.
In March 2023, then Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil agreed that the Australian Government would repay the travel loans. It took 18 months for the Department of Home Affairs to reach an agreement with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and settle CA$190,735 (AU$215,600) in debts yet to be paid by 72 individuals or family groups.
Since October 2024, we have been negotiating with the Department of Home Affairs to arrange the reimbursement of CA$43,129 (AU$48,750) already paid by 42 people, 10 of whom had fully repaid their loan. MOSAIC had existing relationships with the 28 people in this group whose sponsorship they had coordinated and we tracked down contact details for the 13 refugees sponsored by other organisations.
The Department of Home Affairs asked RCOA to receive and pass on the funds for the reimbursement of travel loans. The funds were transferred to MOSAIC and reimbursements have now been completed.
In all, 99 refugees (74 individuals and 8 couples or family groups) have had their travel loan costs covered, with the amounts owed ranging from CA$1,500 to CA$12,000. The arrangement does not cover the travel costs of family members who were not held on Nauru or Manus Island and are later reunited in Canada.
However, others who were detained and are yet to be resettled in Canada will have their travel costs covered. The Department of Home Affairs will keep in contact with IRCC and cover their loans before they fall due at the end of the first year in Canada.
