Refugee Sponsorship Training Program

The Refugee Sponsorship Training Program (RSTP) is a program of the Sponsorship Agreement Holders (SAHs) of Canada and Citizenship and Immigration Canada. The objective of the RSTP is to address the information and ongoing training needs of

• SAHs and their Constituent Groups;
• Groups of Five; and
• Community Groups.

This program addresses the initial information needs of sponsored refugees.

The RSTP is funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

The RSTP has produced a number of information and training resources for private sponsorship groups. Constituent Groups can obtain these products through their Sponsorship Agreement Holder. Groups of Five and Community Groups can contact their local CIC office. The following resources are available on this website.

1. Sponsoring Group Handbooks

The RSTP Sponsoring Group Handbooks emphasize the “hands-on” work of helping newcomers settle. They cover the following:

• group formation
• sponsorship processing
• cross-cultural communication
• sponsor/newcomer relations
• contact with settlement agencies
• refugee reception and orientation
• financial support
• life-skills training, employment and education.

Each type of private sponsorship group has its own handbook.

Some of the documents are available to you in Portable Document Format (PDF). This is a universal file format that allows you to read, print or download an online document while maintaining the fonts, graphics and general layout of that document. To view a PDF document, you must have a PDF reader installed. If you do not already have such a reader, there are numerous PDF readers available for free download or for purchase on the Internet.

If you are a member of a Sponsorship Agreement Holder (SAH) or one of its Constituent Groups, consult Sponsoring Group Handbook: Sponsorship Agreement Holders and their Constituent Groups [ PDF, 598 K]. Only SAHs and their Constituent Groups may sponsor refugees through the Joint Assistance Sponsorship (JAS).

If you are a member of a Group of Five, consult Sponsoring Group Handbook: Groups of Five [ PDF, 594 K ]

If you are member of a Community Group, consult Sponsoring Group Handbook: Community Groups [ PDF, 593 K ]

2. Information for Privately Sponsored Refugees

This is a step-by-step guide for the private sponsorship group to start work with its sponsored refugee. It explains the process to follow once the sponsorship application of the sponsoring group is completed.

>>> HTML version [ PDF, 115 K]