With so many Canadians and so much Canadian media talking about the challenges of bringing 25,000 Syrian refugees to the country, Wind Mobile joined the conversation this week by promising to help refugees settling in the Greater Toronto Area to get reconnected once they arrive.
The discount wireless provider has pledged to provide all refugee families to the GTA over the next two years with “the basic necessity of mobile communication”—a phone and two years of Wind service.
“Canadians are responding with compassion and generosity to the plight of Syrians who have been forced to flee their homeland. We want to do what we can to help,” said Wind Mobile marketing vice-president Jennifer Douglas, in a release. “Access to mobile communications can help them make a smooth transition to life in Canada.”
Wind declined a request to provide more detail about how the program would work, such as where the phones would come from or if there is a limit to how many will be provided.
Wind is working with Lifeline Syria to implement the program. Lifeline Syria was formed to “recruit, train and assist sponsor groups” helping to support 1,000 Syrian refugees coming to the GTA over the next two years.
The company is also encouraging people with spare cellphones to drop them off at one of its retail locations, and has partnered with Dallas, Tex.-based Hyla Mobile, which recycles used phones to update those donated phones for reuse.
Wind isn’t the first big brand to step forward. Air Canada made headlines early in November when it announced it would assist Ottawa with the transportation of refugees to Canada.
On Wednesday, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister John McCallum, praised two Calgary real estate firms, Mainstreet Equity and Boardwalk REIT, for assisting with housing for refugees in the area. “I’m hoping they are the tip of the iceberg and their example will induce others to come forward with similar contributions so that we can welcome refugees, not just with a smile, but with a roof over their heads and all of the other things that they need to begin their lives in Canada.”
“We’re just in the process of developing a corporate outreach program,” said Peter Goodspeed, a communications volunteer for Lifeline Syria, of the efforts to find additional private sector support.
However, he said Aeroplan has donated air miles to Lifeline Syria, a number of private businesses, like optometrists, have volunteered their services and the Furniture Bank has “an arrangement” to assist families with used and reconditioned furniture.
