City council has agreed to dip into its initiatives fund to support Syrian refugees as they arrive to Salmon Arm.
At their regular meeting last week, Salmon Arm’s mayor and council agreed to provide up to $5,000-worth of bus passes, and possibly more if needed, at the request of the Rotary Club of Salmon Arm.
That request came to council in the form of a letter from the club’s Carl Flatman, who explained the club is one of several organizations sponsoring a refugee family expected to reside in the community.
“It is estimated that there will be nine families coming to Salmon Arm in the next three months,” writes Flatman. “The families will not have transportation upon their arrival in Salmon Arm. The sponsoring organizations would like to secure transit passes for he families to ensure that they are able to utilities the various facilities and services in Salmon Arm.”
Flatman estimated about $10,000-worth of passes would be required (18 adult passes for 11 months and nine child passes for nine months).
Coun. Alan Harrison agreed council should help, saying it’s the right thing to do, but suggested Flatman’s expectation for the number of refugees arriving in town so soon to be optimistic. He suggested passes could be provided as refugees arrive, expecting the cost would be half of what was asked for.
Council agreed to go this route, and city chief financial officer Monica Dalziel suggested a motion where bus passes could be provided to a maximum contribution of $5,000, at which point Rotary could ask for more if required.
Coun. Tim Lavery preferred that cap be up to $11,000, with the hope some of that might come from an anticipated budget surplus. Council, however, wound up settling on an initial $5,000 cap, with passes issued as needed.
Coun. Ken Jamieson warned there would likely be opposition to this decision from some in the community.
“We could very likely take some heat from some people,” said Jamieson. “On the other side of it… the outpouring of support by individuals and groups has been really something in this town, and so I think we are representing a desire, I think, of a great number of Salmon Arm people.”