The Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC) is a Refugee Sponsorship Agreement Holder (SAH) with Citizenship and Immigration Canada. This Agreement allows our congregations to privately sponsor refugee families from war-torn countries.

Sponsoring congregations, such as Toronto First, are responsible for the “financial and moral” well-being of our sponsored families during their first year of residence in Canada.

So far, our congregation has completed the sponsorship of 3 families to Canada:

• In 1979 we sponsored a family of three from Laos. This family, in turn, were able to sponsor other family members within a few years.
• In 1988 we sponsored a family of three from El Salvador.
• In 2005 we sponsored a family from Ethiopia consisting of mother, daughter and granddaughter, following more than 3 years of waiting. Both grandmother and daughter are now gainfully employed and the granddaughter excels in her academic studies at high school.

In March of 2007, we undertook the the sponsorship of a young refugee couple, two doctors from Iraq. Sadly, they withdrew their application in April 2009 citing an overly long wait time, as a promised interview failed to materialize and they have since returned to Baghdad.

For more information on the Refugee Sponsorship program, please contact Margaret Rao at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .