FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

12 March, 2026

OTTAWA — Governments should rely more on civil society to deliver important social objectives, such as the resettlement of refugees. A new Cardus report, “Bonds of Solidarity: How Subsidiarity Helps Canadians Care for Refugees,” outlines several decades’ worth of data that point to this fact.

For decades, Canada has had two main programs for refugee resettlement: privately sponsored refugees (those who are sponsored by faith groups, community organizations, and groups of citizens, and government-assisted refugees (those who are assisted by government and settlement agencies).

The evidence consistently shows that privately sponsored refugees have better economic outcomes overall than government-assisted refugees:

• Privately sponsored refugees from Syria were more than five times as likely to find a job in 2016 than those who were assisted by government.
• They were also more than twice as likely to be referred to employment services.
• Privately sponsored refugees also have a long-term economic advantage. Among men, privately sponsored refugees had an income 14 percent higher than those who were government-assisted in the first year after arrival in Canada. The gap among women was 20 percent. Although this gap narrowed in later years, there was still an advantage ten years after arrival.

“These statistics tell an important story,” said Renze Nauta, an author of the report, and director of the Work & Economics Program at Cardus. “They tell us that there are unique advantages to a refugee who is integrated by a community of people who choose to help them out of charity.”

The report highlights many previous studies that have demonstrated a link between whether a refugee was integrated by government or by a private sponsor and their economic outcomes, such as income and employment status. It also highlights surveys done by Statistics Canada that show that privately sponsored refugees generally report receiving more assistance than government-assisted refugees.

“The data point to an underlying principle that governments should use to make better policy. Subsidiarity—the idea that decisions and action should be taken by those closest to an issue—is a principle that emphasizes civil society and the institutions between the individual and the state. It promotes genuine relationships of care among people and supports solidarity.”

The report concludes that governments should use a subsidiarity lens in other areas of public policy. This would ensure that decision-makers consider the important social bonds that are essential in forming communities of Canadians that can support each other.

“Bonds of Solidarity: How Subsidiarity Helps Canadians Care for Refugees” was authored by Renze Nauta. His report is freely available on the Cardus website.

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