Refugee task force holding public meetings

Cornwall Coun. Bernadette Clement during an August 2015 council meeting. (Newswatch Group/File)

CORNWALL – The city’s Syrian Refugee Task Force will hold a pair of public meetings later this month to help people with the process of sponsoring refugees.

The meetings at the civic complex will happen Feb. 17 from 2:30 p.m. until 4 p.m. and again from 6:30 p.m. until 8 p.m.

“We already have some community organizations that are working together to sponsor a Syrian refugee family to settle in Cornwall,” said task force chairman Bernadette Clement.

She said the sessions will act as a gauge of community interest in sponsoring additional families.

A federal government rep will speak at the meetings about private refugee sponsorship.

The Syrian Refugee Task Force was created Dec. 14 to establish lines of communication with organizations and individuals to help with settlement of refugees in the Cornwall area.