Late on Friday, May 6 the refugee committee received unofficial word that the Almattar family had withdrawn their application to emigrate to Canada. On May 10th this information was confirmed by CBOQ our SAH (Sponsorship Agreement Holder).

The committee members are extremely disappointed by this news as we know so many of you must be. We had developed an emotional connection with this family, even though we had such little information about them; only their names, ages, education and profession, and their home town in Syria.  We were never able to establish any direct contact with them. We will likely never know why the Almattars made this decision.  This lack of knowledge makes the outcome even more frustrating. We acknowledge that this is a big set-back. We were all ready to receive a family and now we seem to be back to ʻSquare Oneʼ.

On Monday, May 9, even before we received confirmation from our SAH, the committee held an emergency meeting to consider and discuss possible options.  The committee is determined to push through the discouragement and move forward with a sponsorship, in fulfilment of the mandate given to both MacNeill and Burlington Baptist Church. With the help of CBOQ we are exploring the sponsorship of another family. We hope that the process can be expedited, and that this time we can find a way to communicate with the family (by phone, letter or E-mail) before they come, in order to pave the way to as smooth a transition as possible. We ask for your continuing prayers as we persevere with the task.