Mr. Chair, honourable members and guests, it is a pleasure for us to be here today on behalf of the Foundation of Hope.
My name is Chad Walters. I am a board director with the foundation, and I'm here with my colleague, Paul Tolnai. We are grateful for this opportunity to share with you today our experiences and to contribute to your study on this matter. In addition to my role as a board director, I have also completed research on the topic of gay-identified refugee claimants and their experiences throughout the refugee status determination period. Thus, what I share with you today is an expression of my knowledge in both of these capacities.
The Foundation of Hope's vision statement is a world where LGBT+ refugees and newcomers can live freely and be themselves. We are a registered charity providing financial assistance to other Canadian charities actively supporting LGBT refugees and newcomers. We are a working volunteer board that is the first of its kind in Canada, and possibly the world.
From the beginning we recognized that a tremendous amount of resources are needed to help people find the freedom they need to be themselves. We saw a need for a fundraising organization that does not work directly with individual cases of LGBT persecution; therefore, our goal is to enable and empower those who do by providing targeted funding.
Under our charitable status, the foundation is legally required to direct all its charitable contributions towards other Canadian charities. Our mandate is to ensure broad representation exists to meet the needs of LGBT refugees and newcomers. This includes not only offering funding for private sponsorship applicants, but also support for our newest Canadians once they arrive in their new home. We believe there are emergent benefits that the foundation can foster through collaboration with charitable organizations that share common interests. The goal is for the Foundation of Hope to be the primary contact for Canadians who want to financially help organizations that fall under our mandate. This allows organizations to focus on providing services rather than fundraising.