Session to aid refugees

Working with refugees, service providers and state and local government officials, Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. wants to improve the quality of life for thousands of Utah residents.

"This is a can-do session," Huntsman said Wednesday at the kickoff meeting of the Refugee Working Group. "Which is to say we're here to work, we're not here to talk."

The group, co-chaired by Huntsman and Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon, will identify gaps in the state's refugee resettlement system that has served some 15,000 refugees who have arrived in Utah since 1983. It must submit recommendations to the governor by June 2007.

"We are going to continue until we truly become a state where we are hospitable and where there are no gaps," Huntsman said.

Since 2000, more than 4,200 refugees have come to Utah from 29 countries, including 15 African nation-states, the governor said. The refugees represent 59 ethnicities and nationalities and speak 53 languages.