Meet the Canadian CEO sponsoring and hiring refugees
“I try to do better every day.” By Lauren La Rose Meet the homegrown entrepreneur giving hundreds of refugees a fresh start in Canada. “Do the right thing” is much more to Jim Estill than his appliance company’s corporate tagline: it’s a personal motto that has guided...
Young Salvadoran works to protect his community from gang violence
By Diana Diaz Adults often look back at their early teenage years, as some of the best ones of their life—a time when they were young, careless and free; a time when they could make mistakes and learn for the future. But for young men like Jose*, being careless, free...
Venezuela: a continuing crisis grips South America
The ongoing emergency situation in Venezuela is one of the largest and most far-reaching of our time. The South American country has been gripped by political and economic turmoil for years. Shortages of food and medicine, a lack of access to medical care, escalating...
Opinion: Why cities need to stand with refugees
By Jean-Nicolas Beuze, UNHCR Canada Representative Most images of refugees profile life in camps, filled with makeshift tents made of plastic sheets. Women with infants are pictured in health clinics run by humanitarian organizations. Sometimes, images of children...
Sudanese asylum seeker escapes violence in Libya
A desperate journey to safety By Louise Donovan and Lauren La Rose Sudanese torture survivor trapped in Libya evacuated to Niger. His scars may be healing, but the memories of vicious beatings have not faded from Yasir’s memory. A native of Sudan, Yasir comes from an...
The Rohingya: Two years later
In 2017, an outbreak of violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State triggered a mass exodus of more than 700,000 Rohingya refugees—an ethnic minority group of mostly Muslims displaced from their home in Myanmar. The Rohingya are the world’s largest group of stateless people...
Rohingya girls leave lasting impression with Canadian staffer on first UNHCR misson
“It was very emotional” By Dominique Hyde, as told to Lauren La Rose Ottawa native Dominique Hyde has spent more than two decades dedicated to front-line humanitarian work, with organizations including UNICEF and UN’s World Food Programme. She met with...
Refugee Housing Units provide a better shelter solution
An innovative solution offering dignified and safe shelter for refugees Conflict, violence and persecution forces families all over the world to leave everything behind and start over in a new country. Traumatized and exhausted after the ordeals they endure, refugees...