FCJ Refugee Centre

Our Organization

The FCJ Refugee Centre is incorporated and is registered as a charitable organization. We have a Board of Directors, one Founder, two Co-Executive Directors, one Senior Director, four managers, 11 coordinators, 20 full and part-time staff, and several volunteers and placement students. We offer temporary accommodation to women and children refugee claimants, workshops on various aspects of the refugee/immigration process, and information/assistance and referrals to all uprooted people.

Mission and Mandate

The mission of the FCJ Refugee Centre:

FCJ Refugee Centre helps up-rooted people overcome the challenges of rebuilding their lives in Canadian society. With an open door approach, the Centre offers an integrated model of refugee protection, settlement services and education, including shelter for women and their children.

The FCJ Refugee Centre has a mandate to assist refugees and other uprooted people in re-establishing their lives and integrating into Canadian society by:

  • Offering inclusive and timely counseling and support, including interpretation, referral to legal assistance, employment training, programs on Canadian culture and life, and other educational workshops
  • Providing temporary shelter for women and children
  • Collaborating with relevant organizations to deliver popular education about the protection of the human rights and dignity of up-rooted people.

Structure

Operating a project like the FCJ Refugee Centre requires people with a strong vision about the work of refugee organizations (the Board), people who are able to make this vision a reality (the Staff and Volunteers), and people who support the vision through their generous donations.

Board of Directors

Sharry AikenSharry Aiken
President

Sharry Aiken is a law professor and Academic Director of the Graduate Diploma in Immigration and Citizenship Law at Queen’s University. Earlier in her career she was president of the Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR) and the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic. Sharry is an active member of the CCR’s Legal Affairs Committee, co-editor of the PKI Global Justice Journal, and former Editor-in-Chief of the journal Refuge. Prior to her appointment at Queen’s, Sharry was a staff lawyer at South Etobicoke Community Legal Services and the Refugee Law Office in Toronto. She worked closely with late FCJ Refugee Centre co-director Francisco Rico-Martínez on the “Refugee Help in Refugee Hands” workshops. She has been a member of the Board of Directors of FCJ Refugee Centre since 2021 and has served as President since 2023.

Jehad AliweiwiJehad Aliweiwi
Vice President

Jehad Aliweiwi is a strategic thinker with more than 25 years of experience in senior leadership roles in social, settlement, philanthropic, and community service organizations. Since January 2014, Jehad has held the position of Executive Director with Laidlaw Foundation. For 10 years before that, he was the Executive Director of Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office, a multi-service agency in Toronto. Before that, he was Regional Director, of the Metro Region of Catholic Cross-Cultural Services. Jehad also worked with the Canadian Arab Federation for eight years, as Race Relations Officer and, later, as Executive Director. He was a Trustee of the Ontario Science Centre and a board member of Fred Victor Services. Currently, he serves on the Boards of the Arab Community Centre of Toronto and FCJ Refugee Centre. In 2010 Jehad was the recipient of the Local Hero Award from the Canadian Urban Institute and the 2002 City of Toronto William P. Hubbard Race Relations Award.

Lois Anne BordowitzLois Anne Bordowitz
Past – President

Sr. Lois Anne Bordowitz is a member of the Sisters, Faithful Companions of Jesus, a small international congregation. In her 60 years as an FCJ she has had a variety of assignments, including teaching, missionary in Sierra Leone for 10 years, and social justice ministry, including work with refugees in Calgary and in Toronto. In Sierra Leone, Lois Anne was a facilitator for a development education program used extensively in Africa. Sr. Lois Anne volunteers one day a week at the FCJ Refugee Centre and one day a week at the Toronto Immigration Holding Centre, where she has helped to maintain an NGO presence for almost 30 years. She also works with Becoming Neighbours, a ministry of accompaniment of newcomers to Canada.

Sandra M. González PonceSandra M. González Ponce
Secretary

Sandra M. González Ponce is a Latina Canadian lawyer who is passionate about human rights and social justice. Her law practice focuses on refugee law and family law (child protection). Prior to her legal career, she did community development work in the shanty-towns of Mexico, in the favelas of Brazil with UN-Habitat and in priority neighbourhoods in Toronto with TCH. She worked with community members in a collaborative way from the ground up ensuring that the voices of those most vulnerable were present and heard. She has served on the board of Windsor Women Working With Immigrant Women amongst other non-profit groups. She has been a member of the Board of Directors of FCJ Refugee Centre since 2020 and is presently serving as the Board’s Secretary.

Christine GebelChristine Gebel
Treasurer

Christine Gebel was born in Winnipeg and moved to Toronto in 1984 in order to enter the religious community of Our Lady’s Missionaries. She spent a little over a year in Nigeria and later, 14 ½ years in Mindanao, the Philippines. Her involvements there included pastoral work, ecological work, a literacy program for out-of-school youth, and Muslim-Christian dialogue. Upon her return to Canada, she has held leadership roles in her community, and has become a Spiritual Director. She is also involved with Presentation Manor for Seniors where most of the Sisters of her community now live. Once she joined the board of the FCJ Refugee Centre, she was amazed at all the wonderful work the Centre does and is grateful to be part of it.

Sheriff AlimiSheriff Alimi
Board Member

Sheriff Oladimeji Alimi is a program/project manager and the founder of Africkonect foundation. He was a former employee and a member of the FCJ Refugee Centre youth network. Sheriff is committed to community engagement and social impact, leading initiatives to support immigrant’s integration, youth empowerment, and community development.

Eusebio GarcíaEusebio García
Board Member

Eusebio García, originally from Arcatao, Chalatenango, El Salvador, immigrated to Canada in 1985. Since 1990, he’s been pivotal at the Quaker Committee for Refugees, offering crucial support to newcomers through orientation, paperwork assistance, and accommodation finding. García holds board positions at the Salvadoran Canadian Association (ASALCA) and SalvAide. He has held significant roles such as President at the Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples, La Paz Housing Cooperative, and as a board member at the Canadian Multilingual Literacy Centre. García’s contributions extend to advisory roles at Access Alliance Community Health Centre, consultancy at the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC), and as Project Coordinator for Mutual Support Among Central American Refugees (AMERCT). His dedication underscores a lifetime commitment to aiding refugees and advancing community integration.

Tigest GulbetTigest Gulbet
Board Member

Tigest D Gulbet is originally from Eritrea, in East Africa. She resided in FCJ while pursuing her nursing career. After working as a nurse at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) for several years, Tigest switched to the financial industry in 2009, where she discovered the importance of financial education. Tigest is a highly skilled financial professional with over 14 years of experience serving families, businesses, and professionals in the Greater Toronto Area. Her expertise includes cash flow management, tax management strategies, and asset expansion to generate generational wealth. Tigest is a Chartered Life Underwriter and a Certified Health Insurance Specialist. She is dedicated to helping those in need, including newcomers, women, and youth, by providing free seminars and advice to help them achieve their financial goals. Tigest joined the Board of the FCJ Refugee Centre to positively impact the community.

Zahra HojatiZahra Hojati
Board Member

Dr. Zahra Hojati holds a doctoral degree in Higher Education/Women and Gender Studies at OISE/ University of Toronto. Her research explores the intersection of gender with race, class, religion, and other social inequalities, aiming to elucidate the intricate dynamics of “identity, home, and belonging” and the resilience of racialized immigrant women. In 2013, she authored the book Between 2 Rocks, Iran-Canada: Iranian Immigrant Women Speak Out, subsequently translated into Farsi in 2018. Zahra has the experiences of working at IRCC (Immigration, Refugee Citizenship of Canada) along with actively engaged in various charitable endeavors at national and international level, holding board positions in non-profit organizations such as MAGO (Multicultural Action Group for Orphans), and FCJ Refugee Centre. Her involvement as a research associate at the Centre for Feminist Research at York University focuses on understanding the repercussions of war and conflict zones on refugee and immigrant women and their families.

Ann McGillAnn McGill
Board Member

Ann McGill is a member of the Sisters Faithful Companions of Jesus. Her ministry has included nursing, pastoral care, spiritual accompaniment, formation of new members, and community leadership. A Registered Nurse with experience in the areas of midwifery, general surgery, and more recently mental health and addiction nursing, Ann has worked in UK, United States and Canada. Ann completed her BN at University of Calgary and an MA in Ministry and Spirituality at Regis College. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ann assisted twice a week at the Inner City Health Associates clinic, and at the FCJ Refugee Centre, working for refugees and others without medical insurance. Recently Ann has qualified as a certified Life Coach.

Joe MihevcJoe Mihevc
Board Member

Joe Mihevc has been a city councillor for the former City of York and the City of Toronto for 28 years (1991-2018 and 2022). Among other positions, he has served as Deputy Mayor of the City of York, Chair of the Board of Health, Chair of the Community Development Committee, Chair of the Taskforce on Access and Equity, Vice Chair of the TTC, and Vice Chair of the Budget Committee. His expertise is in the area of municipal governance and public policy, public health, community development, community engagement, housing policy, economic development, urban planning and redevelopment, sustainability, poverty reduction, transit planning, and newcomer resettlement. He is currently Principal with Mihevc Consulting and Mediation where he uses his municipal experience and relationships to help developers and city-builders navigate civic processes to promote exciting municipal projects. He is also a sessional lecturer at York University teaching in the area of urban studies. Joe has a Ph.D. (in Theology and Social Ethics) and has decades of experience teaching at the university level, including serving as the Director of the Globalization of Theology Program at the Toronto School of Theology and St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto, a program that sent students to Peru and Mexico.