Horrified by the tragedy in the Mediterranean that left hundreds of migrants dead last year, Maltese national Steve Leone-Ganado, who now lives in Canada, wanted to help at least one family start a new life.

While geographically further away from the crisis than when he lived in Malta, being in Canada put him one step closer to helping out migrants directly since the government there allows third parties to sponsor migrants’ resettlement.

Mr Leone-Ganado moved to Canada in 2000 and now lives with his wife in Belleville, Ontario. Late last year, he started asking around whether anyone would be interested in joining him in setting up a group to sponsor a family of four from Syria.

“Canada has a pretty unique settlement process where groups can come together and help sponsor migrants. I had been following the crisis for years and this was, therefore, the perfect opportunity for me to do something to help,” Mr Leone-Ganado said.

People hear what we’re doing and they want to help out

Within a few weeks, the Belleville Syria Connection (BSC) was set up, with 20 volunteers now working together to bring the Syrian family to Canada.

“I posted on Facebook to see whether people would be interested and, in just a few days, I started getting very good feedback,” he said.

Mr Leone-Ganado’s group has committed to sponsor the family through the Canadian government’s blended visa programme and will, throughout the coming year, be helping them adjust to life in Canada.

The Syrian family, currently in Turkey, is expected to arrive in Canada in the coming months.

Canada’s programme matches refugees identified for resettlement by the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, with private sponsors. The government then provides up to six months of income support while the group would be responsible to provide all other financial support in the first year of resettlement. The group would also offer up to a year of social and emotional support to the family.

Syrian migrants arriving in Malta in August 2014. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

“Once the family gets here, we will first and foremost help them learn the language. They have already started learning some English but they would need to learn more to get by here,” Mr Leone-Ganado said.

The group would then help the parents find a job while also supporting the two young children as they settled in school.

So far, the group, which holds weekly meetings at the members’ houses, has already raised about €15,000 through donations from the volunteers, friends and fund-raising activities.

“An old school friend of mine heard what I was doing and made a donation. That’s how we’ve managed to get funds so far. People hear what we’re doing and they want to help out.”

Mr Leone-Ganado said that, while the government’s measure made it possible for citizens to help, in Canada tragedies happening in the Mediterranean rarely made it to the mainstream media. “Even while living here, I still followed what goes on in the Mediterranean, which made my desire to help out that much stronger,” he said.

On whether the group would consider sponsoring other families, Mr Leone-Ganado said it was still too early to say. However, if things went well, he did not exclude the possibility of trying to sponsor more people in the future.

Anyone wishing to donate to the cause can contact the group on bellevillesyriaconnection@yahoo.ca for more information.