Rooted again: How one woman rebuilt her life and found a family at Ottawa’s Carty House
When Pamella speaks about home, her voice carries both the pain of exile and the resilience of someone who has survived it. Originally from Burundi, Pamella never imagined that speaking out about women’s rights could cost her everything—but it nearly did. By Zeba...
From forced displacement to resilience: how artist Camilo Arias uses art as a path to healing and transformation
We sat down with Hope Away From Home artist Camilo Arias, whose personal journey through forced displacement has deeply shaped his creative process By Soo-Jung Kim in Ottawa, Canada On a snowy evening in Ottawa, far from his hometown in Colombia, Camilo Arias was...
Bridging cultures: Mandela Kuet’s Journey to Empower Winnipeg Youth
Mandela Kuet’s childhood in Winnipeg’s North End was shaped by the sights and sounds of a community deeply intertwined with both Indigenous and newcomer cultures. It was a place where the sense of family, culture, and community provided a foundation for...
From refugees to healthcare heroes: how Canada’s Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot is transforming lives
Through innovative programs like the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (EMPP), Canada is providing a lifeline to skilled refugees, while addressing crucial labour shortages at the same time By Soo-Jung Kim in Ottawa, Canada “Beginning from my academic journey, I was...
How a Montreal church and a refugee advocate built a model of inclusion
Having just arrived in the Montréal borough of Anjou, Adedeji “Ade” Sunday Akintayo took a long, cold journey across the city to reach an unfamiliar place. But on that October day in 2017, he found a community in Beaconsfield United Church that would change his life...
Open doors, open hearts: what you need to know about shelters for asylum-seekers in Canada
In the last few weeks, we have heard a lot about asylum-seekers in Toronto sleeping on the streets while a public debate rages about who foots the bill. Sadly, the people suffering the most are those left without a roof over their heads. The truth is that housing for...
Award-winning artist K’naan releases new song honouring refugees
In his first new recording for more than a decade, singer-songwriter who fled Mogadishu as a child says he wanted the song to feel ‘like a home for those of us made homeless by conflict’ By UNHCR Staff Canadian-Somali artist K’naan, whose unofficial World Cup...
Fighting for her dreams: female Afghan judoka builds a new life in Canada
By Levon Sevunts | 19 June 2023 Nigara Shaheen was only an infant when her parents were forced to flee Afghanistan to escape a ravaging civil war in 1994. In complete secrecy, they trekked through dangerous mountain backroads before reaching safety in neighbouring...