Thanks to each one of you for joiun us during our street party .
One more year we had the opportunity to celebrate not only the neighbourhood’s diversity – but also Toronto’s, as well as Canada’s – welcoming arms
“We are very grateful to all our supporters for helping us to keep walking with refugees and other precarious populations during 2018. Thanks to you we were able to provide information for refugee claimants and for people who need support in regards to their immigration status and how they can further their situation in Canada.
Access to Education was one of the main achievements for us. We were able to send 17 youth with precarious immigration status to post-secondary education. In general the FCJ Youth Network and the Access to Education team have had an exceptional year, and look forward to the new projects on 2019.
The increase in the number of people arriving in Toronto continued to impact FCJ Refugee Centre and the City in general. The pressures on the City’s emergency shelter system included an increased number of refugee claimants needing shelter during 2018.We continued working with the Refugee Houses, the City of Toronto, refugees and migrants to find shelter. Also we partnered with St. Clair Multi-Faith Affordable Housing, we were able to secure funding for a housing worker and a housing allowance. We were able to accommodate five families, one of which was a group of five young siblings from Somalia. In our own houses we managed to shelter 50 women and 6 children in 2018. The majority of them were from Uganda, Nigeria, Colombia, Kenya, Mexico, Cuba, Croatia, and Egypt.
Another large program that we keep running is the Primary Care Clinic, serving people who don’t have access to healthcare. We had a psychiatrist assisting people with mental health issues. The psychiatrist was also providing refugee claimants with psychological reports and assessments for their claim.
Public education and the accessibility of information is a key part of the services we provide. The programs included workshops about human trafficking given in rural areas. FCJ has expanded the anti-human trafficking network, and one of our most successful services was the Migrant Worker’s Mobile program. We have a phone number so migrant workers can communicate and contact us directly. We have been helping people mostly who are victims of labour trafficking, and we do this through trainings, outreach, and working with a network of other organizations throughout Ontario.”
Find out more about the co-directors’ reflections on the services and programs implemented by FCJ Refugee Centre during 2018 : click here
Annual Report 2018
Check out our Spring Newsletter:
LEARN ABOUT :
¬ Housing Report
¬ Writing Workshops
¬ Actions against legal aid cuts
¬ Foreign workers program changes
Displaced persons and precarious migrants are particularly vulnerable to a range of other human rights violations that can then impact their right to housing. They are particularly vulnerable to discrimination, racism and xenophobia, which can further interfere with their ability to secure sustainable and adequate living conditions. People who have been forcibly displaced will often have suffered trauma during their journey, and will have lost familiar coping strategies and support mechanisms. Often unable in practice or because of their legal status to rent adequate accommodation, many are forced to live in overcrowded and insecure conditions. These challenges are compounded by Toronto’s ongoing housing crisis, which is a long-standing problem.
Many of our clients facing this situation came to FCJ Refugee Centre looking for support. The following report shares our findings on the challenges that refugee claimants and precarious migrants face in finding a place to stay in the city, whether that is a temporary shelter or more permanent housing through the rental market. We are grateful to those who shared their stories with us. We wanted to bring attention to these issues as these vulnerabilities are not given the due attention they deserve, either in the media or in government policies.
To read the report click here :
We had an amazing evening. Thank you to all our supporters!!
Andromeda Diaz
Carlos delgado
John Gross
Mao Correa
Jack Martin
Nawaaz Makhani
Sandra Gonzales
Sandra Patricia Loboa
Youth in Motion
Helena
Mariana Bolanos
Paula Pinheiro
FCJ Youth Network
FCJ WOmen’s Jewellery Group
SAVE THE DATE! April 26
We are organizing an evening of visual art, music and stories in celebration of Refugee Rights Month. Through this event we are going to honour the contributions made by refugees, inviting them to showcase their works and artistic talents. Also it will be an opportunity to raise funds in support of the work that the FCJ Refugee Centre does.
For 28 years the FCJ Refugee Centre has been championing the rights and protection of refugees, immigrants and precarious migrant populations. With a client-centered, community-driven approach we provide holistic services to vulnerable migrants.
Please find the details below:
Date: April 26th, 2019
Venue: Matter Gallery
Address: 344 Westmoreland Ave N #104a, Toronto, ON M6H 3A7
Time: From 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm
RSVP: https://artshow.eventbrite.ca
For more information please contact Marianna Tzabiras, Research and Resource Development by email mariannatz@fcjrefugeecentre.org
Thank you to the Ready Tour participants for taking the time to share your experience at the Ready Tour:
Ready Tour was a beautiful and informative experience that I will forever pass down to any refugee coming into Canada.
I heard about it for the first time from my Counselor at the Shelter at a point of exit when I secured an apartment. I decided to give it a shot. I sent a mail requesting for ‘Ready Tour’ to FCJ and I was scheduled for the tour. I got there only to find out that I wasn’t the only one that got the appointment.
The tour was very revealing and informative. It is designed to help refugees with their coming up hearing, to build up a little confidence in them and to reduce the rate of ‘Appeal’ after the hearing.
The Tour like I said was revealing because it revealed that the hearing for the claimants is not a criminal case and it’s just going to be the claimant, the Judge and the claimant’s lawyer.
Well organized and there was room for all to ask questions and interpreters were also available to those that needed it. At the end of the session, I had a sense of what my hearing day is going to look like, who to expect on that day and how to prepare myself.
My Hearing went well and coincidentally, I had mine at the same room where the tour was actually conducted but the truth is I never had scold feet all through the Hearing and this I believe was because of the Readiness I had with FCJ (Ready Tour).
I must confess the team at FCJ are really fantastic. So grateful that I met them and I encouraged immigrants to seek to know the ‘How to’ once they arrive into Canada and FCJ is one of the places to visit for knowledge.
Thanks all!
Anonymous
You are welcome to attend the Ready Tour. For more information and registration please click here:
https://www.fcjrefugeecentre.org/ready-tour-registration/
The Ready Tour is a free program for refugee claimants that allow them to visit an actual hearing room and learn about how to be ready for their refugee hearing.
Our Winter Newsletter is here: Learn about the Youth Civic Engagement, art exhibition, volunteer session and Ontario’s Human Trafficking Awareness Day event.
Press Release
Ontario’s Human Trafficking Awareness Day – February 22nd 2019
A Human Rights Based Approach to End Human Trafficking – Conversation and Press Conference
Organized by the Toronto Counter Human Trafficking Network (TCHTN)
10 AM to 12 PM
At The Mary Ward Centre: 70 St. Mary Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 1J3
Multiple forms of domestic and international human trafficking exist in Ontario, including sex and labour trafficking. While anyone can be affected by human trafficking, poverty, gender inequality and hyper sexualisation of women and girls, racism, colonialism and precarious immigration status are root causes. These and other factors, create greater vulnerability to human trafficking across Ontario
To read the complete Press Release click here : http://www.fcjrefugeecentre.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Press-Release-Human-Trafficking-Awareness-Day-Feb22-2019.pdf
Please RSVP here: https://humantraffickingawarenessday.eventbrite.ca/
If you have questions please contact:
Luis Mata, Anti-Human Trafficking coordinator at FCJ Refugee Centre
416-4699754 ext. 242
Support FCJ REfugee Centre
click here
BE PART OF FCJ REFUGEE CENTRE COMMUNITY
If you want to learn and support refugees and other precarious migrants, join our team of volunteers and make a difference.
Register for the session here and Send your resume and volunteer form to Carolina Teves at cteves@fcjrefugeecentre.org
Date: Thursday February 28th, 2019
Time: 3:00 pm
Address: 208 Oakwood Ave (FCJ Refugee Centre location)
