Waiting for word: St. John's couple hope for speedy approval of refugee relatives

A St. John's couple are working to bring some of their extended family from war-torn South Sudan.

Matthew LeRiche and Aduei Riak told CBC's St. John's Morning Show on Thursday that Riak's sister died of an illness in June in Uganda, where she'd fled with five children as well as her brother.

"Canada has been very great to Syrian refugees, the response has been fantastic, but the Syrian situation is also happening in other places, such as South Sudan. The humanitarian disaster is crazy," said Riak.

Riak said they're trying to expedite the children's -- the youngest is six, the oldest is 18 -- travel to Canada, due to their ages and situation.

"It's been two months. We haven't heard anything yet, but we're hoping that the Canadian government [will] act and make sure we bring them here to Newfoundland as soon as we can," she said.

LeRiche and Riak are working on a private sponsorship for their relatives.

"It could be any time now, it's been two months," said Riak. "We hope the decision is made soon, but it depends on so many things. There are so many cases to look at."

LeRiche said having a personal connection with a private sponsorship doesn't give them an advantage.

'We hope the decision is made soon, but it depends on so many things. There are so many cases to look at.' - Aduei Riak

"Only insofar as we can tell them, we'd like these people to come," he said. "If you're with a church group and you've sponsored some refugees to come in, you don't know who they're going to be."

"Then the process has to kick in where they choose who's going to come. So if there's time associated with that process, we escape that, but I don't think it simplifies things."

Eventually the couple hopes their member of Parliament will make a direct appeal on their relatives' behalf, if necessary.

"We've already spoken with him," said LeRiche.

"Apparently, the best time to do that is once (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) in Winnipeg do their first vetting and then it goes to the visa office. That's when you go and ask. So that's what we're waiting for now."