WHAT IS YOUR ROLE IN BEING WELCOMING?
What does it mean to be a Canadian? Does it mean being welcoming? Does it mean being accepting? How do we live up to these ideas?
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What is our role in all this? As Canadians, what do we do now?
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Explore this section to reflect on your own experiences and learn more about steps you can take towards creating better days ahead.
RESOURCES AND ORGANIZATIONS
Organizations like the Together Project offer ways to help refugees. The project matches groups of volunteers from the community with refugees who have just arrived in Canada. Volunteers help refugees feel welcome in Canada by creating a new social network.
Canada has a lot of non-profit organizations dedicated to supporting refugees like the Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR). The CCR works to protect refugees’ rights and to help refugees find places to resettle. The CCR website has lots of suggestions for how you can help.
Just like at the end of the Second World War, The Jewish Immigrant Aid Society (JIAS) still works hard to help newcomers to Canada today. JIAS has many volunteer programs that all Canadians can get involved with. What could you do to help support newcomers to Canada?
Volunteering is a powerful way of helping refugees in Canada. This CBC article provides a few suggestions for how you can volunteer time or money to causes that support refugees.
TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION WITH INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
What does it take to be truly welcoming? Welcoming newcomers to the lands now called Canada also means recognizing those who were already here. Canada’s Indigenous Peoples cared for these lands that offer so many people a safe home. Canada has a complicated past with respect to its Indigenous Peoples. Truth and Reconciliation are ongoing. How can telling the truth about a difficult past, and trying to make amends, help us to build better days ahead?