The high price of fighting for women’s rights
Ketty Nivyabandi is longing for her country, but she is determined to continue her fight for women in Burundi – a fight that caused her to lose her homeland. By Gisèle Nyembwe in Ottawa, Canada “It has been close to four years now. My most cherished dream is to...
Beyond Roxham Road: a story on irregular border crossing
18 months after having crossed the U.S.-Canada border irregularly, a Haitian refugee is doing what it takes to succeed in Canada By Gisèle Nyembwe in Montreal, Canada Pierre reaches into his backpack and searches calmly through a bunch of documents. He takes out a...
Opinion: We have a common responsibility to fight anti-refugee rhetoric
You have often heard us at UNHCR raising the alarm about populist rhetoric that demonizes refugees, asylum seekers or migrants. In Canada, like in many Western countries these days, terms such as “illegals” or “refugee crisis” are used to describe those arriving at...
Harry Leslie Smith’s son follows in his footsteps
John Smith is determined to carry on Harry Leslie Smith’s legacy of advocating for refugees In a previous story, UNHCR Canada wrote about Harry Leslie Smith, the 95-year-old social justice activist who was travelling the world advocating for refugees, his every...
Gay Refugee from Central America Finds Safety in Canada
Forced to leave everything behind, Marco fled from gangs in Honduras Written by Erla Cabrera in Ottawa, Canada “I left home at an early age because my family didn’t support who I was,” explains 26-year-old Marco. “It was hard for us to get along, for them not to judge...
Syrian refugee receives lifesaving heart treatment in Canada
A refugee father owes his survival to cardiology monitoring offered in Canada Before that day in May 1997 in Daraa, Syria, when he was gripped with severe chest pains, Qaseem Husainy never had any serious health problems and was far from imagining how his heart...
A vital Canadian community hub for newcomers raises funds for Syrians displaced by crisis
By Lauren La Rose Samer Kanan is living proof of the power of paying it forward. The Syrian-born refugee resettled in Canada, where he has spent the past two years working at the Somali Centre for Family Services in Ottawa. When the centre opened in 1991, it was...
UNHCR Canada and Paramount Fine Foods CEO Mohamad Fakih to raise funds for Rohingya refugees
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency in Canada, is joining forces with Mohamad Fakih, President and CEO of Paramount Fine Foods, to raise funds for Rohingya refugees. The Fakih Foundation will match the highest donation amount raised by any Canadian business leader or...