Coming home: After years in the field with the UN, I’m proud to continue my humanitarian work in Canada
When I assumed my new role as UNHCR Canada Representative at the beginning of 2020, I couldn’t have anticipated after returning home how much Canada and the world as we know it would change so significantly in the coming months — and for the foreseeable future. The...
Conflict in Somalia forced long-lost relatives to flee decades apart
An unexpected connection brought them together in Canada By Lauren La Rose Sharing a birthplace and a mutual Facebook connection made it easy for Ali Wasuge and Iqra Ali Gaal to forge a friendship online. Yet after exchanging details about life in their homeland of...
A Syrian refugee returns to entrepreneurial roots in Canada
Back in business “I know I lost everything back home. But I found here some people to help me” Shortly after arriving in Canada, it didn’t take long for Ahmad Abed to reignite his entrepreneurial spirit. After resettling in Guelph, Ontario, the Syrian...
How your Zakat has helped rebuild the lives of refugees
By Lynn Al Nasser For Muslims around the world, the Holy Month of Ramadan is a time of reflection, gratitude and patience. It is a time for families and communities to gather and break their fast (iftar) together. For 30 days, Muslims are required to fast from sunrise...
Canada holds a special place for me
By Jean-Nicolas Beuze After three years in Canada, it is time for me to return to the humanitarian frontlines. As you read this I will be on the ground as the UNHCR Representative in Sana’a, Yemen, where a shocking 80 per cent of the country’s over 28 million people...
NASIMCO volunteer draws on personal experience to support refugees
By Fiona Irvine-Goulet Gulamabbas Najafi, Vice-President of NASIMCO (North American Shia Ithna-Asheri Muslim Communities), understands what it’s like to be a refugee: in 1972, during Uganda’s brutal regime of Idi Amin, Najafi and his family were forced to flee from...
Online learning program empowers refugees to pursue higher education
Master’s student in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp plays active role in campus life at Canada’s York University By Lauren La Rose Abdikadir Bare Abikar has never seen York University in person, yet distance has proved to be no barrier for the graduate student who has...
Inside Venezuela: One of the largest and most far-reaching emergencies of our time
Traditionally, Venezuela has been a generous host to thousands of refugees. But with escalating economic instability, violence and a lack of access to food, medicine and jobs, Venezuelan families themselves have been forced to flee their country. By the end of 2019,...