The Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program is a program whereby refugees can enter Canada with support and funding from a private sponsor, as opposed to in a government-sponsored program, where the government would be paying for the refugees. The program was established in 1978, and in 2013, it had resettled 6,623 refugees. A 2007 study released by the Canadian government found that refugees who settled in Canada through the private sponsorship program became independent much more quickly than did those sponsored by the government.