Jackie Swaisland, Law’06, knew she had to use her expertise as an immigration lawyer to help people caught up in the biggest refugee crisis since World War II. After being contacted by other lawyers asking what they could do to assist, she got an idea to compile a list of those who were willing to work pro-bono with private refugee sponsorships. This initiative blossomed into the Refugee Sponsorship Support Program and Swaisland is one of its key leaders.

The program puts legal practitioners who want to help in touch with potential refugee sponsors. It also offers in-person training on how to handle the sponsorships, a complicated and difficult process. So far more than 600 lawyers have signed up and received this training.

Seeing legal professionals commit themselves enthusiastically to this cause inspires Swaisland. “The current refugee crisis is overwhelming. However, this program has seen lawyers from across the country donating thousands of hours to help.”

Recently, the program held its first bi-weekly pro bono legal clinic in Toronto in cooperation with Lifeline Syria to process refugee sponsorship applications. This was covered nationally by the CBC and other media outlets. The goal is to continually expand the number of applicants the program is able to assist and the number of lawyers who can help.

Swaisland’s time at Queen’s, where she was elected Law Students’ Society President for 2005-06, helped prepare her to lead this large-scale initiative. Generally, her time studying in the Public International Law Program (now part of the Global Law Programs) at the Bader International Study Centre (Herstmonceux Castle) in England developed her interest in the field. However, she also says that the opportunities to develop leadership and organizational skills at Queen’s Law were invaluable to putting this project together. Furthermore, she praises the focus that both faculty and students have on giving back to the community.

Swaisland says that her involvement with the program is hard work but also incredibly rewarding. “This project has provided me with the ability to assist, in a small way, those who have been displaced from their home country and are living in dire circumstances,” she says. “It has also given me the opportunity to work with other lawyers and committed community groups who are donating their time even though they themselves are incredibly busy.”