Category: Featured

Featured

“A historical moment”: COVID-19 vaccination at the FCJ Refugee Centre

The COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Toronto has expanded to refugee homes in the city, with hospital teams operating several pop-up clinics.

On Tuesday, over 50 residents and staff at the FCJ Refugee Centre received their vaccines, in a vaccination day organized by the University Health Network’s Social Medicine Program and the Women’s College Hospital’s Crossroads Clinic for Refugees.

“This is a historical moment,” said Loly Rico, Co-Director of the FCJ Refugee Centre. “It is the first day of a vaccination campaign that we believe, and we hope, that we can continue doing,” she added.

“This is a chance for the society. The idea is to open thee space for people that need to have an easy access to the vaccine,” she explained.

“It’s a dream come true,” said Co-Director Francisco Rico-Martinez.

Rico-Martinez explained that, even if the vaccine is free and available to all residents in Canada, regardless of their immigration status, “some of our residents thought they wouldn’t get the vaccine because they aren’t citizens, or because they haven’t any immigration status or health coverage.”

“Sometimes they get the impression sometimes that they don’t exist in society, and they were recognized today,” he added.

More information: Webinar: What you need to know about the COVID-19 vaccines

Read also: ‘It’s a dream come true’ as COVID-19 vaccine rollout expands to city’s refugee homes (Toronto Star)

‘Navigating the Divider,’ a New Program for Newcomer Youth

The FCJ Refugee Centre is launching Navigating the Divider, a new program supporting newcomer youth and community members to develop employability skills.

This program will empower youth to reach their full potential, learn about their rights, and develop new skills.

The program has been cultivated through a joint program between students at York University and Seneca College, and the FCJ Refugee Centre Youth Network.

We are looking for dynamic and enthusiastic volunteers to support this program to deliver workshops, and act as peer mentors.

The first orientation workshop will be held on March 26th, at 3h00.

Please click here to register.

When you can get the COVID-19 vaccine in Ontario

Ontario has a three-phase plan that prioritizes COVID-19 vaccines for those at greatest risk of severe illness and those who care for them. The province is currently completing Phase 1 of the plan.

Phase 1

High-risk populations (approximately 1.8 million people)

When

  • December 2020 – March 2021

Who

  • Congregate living for seniors
  • Health care workers
  • Adults in First Nations, Métis and Inuit populations
  • Adult chronic home care recipients
  • Adults over 80 years old

Where

  • Distribution through hospital site clinics, mobile teams, site-specific clinics, mass vaccination clinics (late March)

Phase 2

Mass deliveries of vaccines (approximately 9 million people)

When

  • April 2021 – July 2021

Who

  • Adults aged 60 to 79, in 5-year increments
  • High-risk congregate settings (such as shelters, community living)
  • Individuals with high-risk chronic conditions and their caregivers
  • Those who cannot work from home
  • At-risk populations

Where

  • Distribution through: mass vaccination clinics, pharmacies, primary care, site-specific clinics, mobile teams, mobile sites, public health units

Phase 3

Steady state

When

  • July 2021 onwards

Who

  • Adults 59 years and younger

Where

  • Distribution through: mass vaccination clinics, pharmacies, primary care, site-specific clinics, mobile teams, mobile sites, public health units

If there is limited supply, people will be vaccinated in the order in which they are listed. Learn how the priorities are determined.

All timelines are subject to change depending on vaccine supply.

Booking a vaccination

Ontario’s vaccine booking system is now available:

How to book a vaccine »

Check with your public health unit

Each public health unit is developing a vaccine plan tailored to their own community’s needs. Local plans will align with Ontario’s vaccine distribution plan and ethical framework. Find your public health unit and check their website for details about vaccination in your area.

Find your public health unit »

More information on the Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccination plan website »

Youth Engagement Week

In connection with the CCR Youth Network‘s Newcomer Youth Civic Engagement Project, the FCJ Youth Network is organizing, this second week of March, the Youth Engagement Week.

The event is focused on offering newcomer youth an opportunity to be leaders in their communities and tackle issues that affect them.

The activities aim to help newcomer youth connect and engage with their communities, identifying key issues for newcomer youth and supporting them in exploring ways to address these issues within their communities.

Program:

  • March 9th – 8pm: Games Night
  • March 10th – 4pm: Talk to Action by CCR YN
  • March 11th – 4pm: Migrant Youth Engagement 101

To register and for further information:
fcjyn@fcjrefugeecentre.org

Community Engagement Initiative for the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence

FCJ Refugee Centre is taking part of the National Action Plan to end Gender-Based Violence, with Women and Gender Equality Canada and YWCA Canada.

In order to make concrete changes, voices from the communities impacted are essential.

FCJ Refugee Centre is organizing a series of consultations in different languages. These consultations will provide a space to hear the important voices of women who have faced gender-based violence.

To learn more:

» After decades of talk, national action plan to protect women finally in the works (CBC News)

Human Trafficking is Still Happening in Canada

Human Trafficking Awareness Day
(February 22nd, 2021)

The Toronto Counter Human Trafficking Network – TCHTN calls for awareness among all Canadians to recognize Human Trafficking as a growing concern across Canada.

Despite the pandemic, human trafficking continues to take advantage of systemic issues such as poverty, inequity, and legislation focused on prosecuting criminals, as opposed to empowering communities and supporting survivors. In fact, the pandemic has only highlighted the blatant social inequalities that allow human trafficking to continue.

Being united in combatting human trafficking, addressing systemic inequities, and knowing the warning signs are all important in its prevention. Collaboration and communication are essential in addressing this crime against humanity, labour and human rights.

We need to intensify our counter-trafficking collaboration and enhance communication among governmental and non-governmental agencies, to condemn all forms of human trafficking and slavery and provide support to those affected.

The TCHTN encourages Canadians to listen to victims and survivors of human trafficking and to raise awareness of the magnitude of this modern slavery and labour exploitation happening here in Canada and abroad.

We encourage local and national media to echo TCHTN’s call to promote voices, initiatives and efforts against human trafficking here in Toronto/the GTA, as well as across Canada.

Fighting against human trafficking is a commitment that inspires the Toronto Counter Human Trafficking Network every day to embrace principles of human rights, equity, anti-oppression frameworks and social justice.

Join the movement with us:

For those looking to know more about the TCHTN or to contact a representative from those organizations above, please do not hesitate to send a message to Toronto Counter Human Trafficking Network – TCHTN coordinator, Luis Alberto Mata, or call him. He’ll get back to you asap:

  • Email: Lmata @ fcjrefugeecentre.org
  • Tel: (416) 469-9754 ext. 242

What you need to know about the COVID-19 vaccines

Photo by Hakan Nural on Unsplash

COVID-19 vaccines will eventually be offered to all adults living in Canada. This fact sheet, verified by doctors, is the first in a series designed to give you accurate, verified medical information about these vaccines so you can make an informed choice.

Key Messages:

  • The COVID-19 vaccine will help protect you from getting COVID-19. Two doses are needed.
  • The COVID-19 vaccines have been extensively studied in diverse populations and are considered safe and highly effective.

Why Get the COVID-19 Vaccine?

  • For many years, people around the world have used vaccines to protect us from deadly infectious illnesses, such as measles, tetanus and polio.
  • The COVID-19 vaccine is the most effective way to protect yourself from getting COVID-19 and for us all to return to life as normal.
  • The vaccine is an important part of stopping the spread of the virus to our families and communities, in addition to wearing masks, washing hands and staying at least 2 metres away from others.

How Does the Vaccine Work?

  • Vaccines do not cure you, they help to prevent you from getting sick in the first place.
  • The vaccine teaches your body what the COVID-19 virus looks like so your body can fight the virus if you come into contact with it.
  • The COVID-19 vaccine does this by providing instructions (“mRNA”) to your body to make spike proteins like those on top of the coronavirus. These proteins do not make you sick. Your body’s immune system then makes antibodies to fight the infection if the real virus does enter your body in the future.

How Effective Are the Vaccines?

  • Two vaccines are being offered in Canada so far, one by Pfizer/BioNTech and the other by Moderna.
  • Both vaccines are considered very effective in preventing COVID-19 illness after two doses. They were found to be 95% effective in large scientific studies.

What Are the Side Effects of These Vaccines?

  • The COVID-19 vaccines are considered very safe. In general, the side effects observed during the large scientific studies are similar to what you might experience with other vaccines. They included things like shoulder/arm pain at the site of injection, body and muscle pains, chills, feeling tired and feeling feverish. These are common side effects of vaccines and do not pose a risk to health. If any of these is experienced, it will typically resolve in about a day or so. These symptoms may occur after both doses of the vaccine.
  • As with all vaccines, there’s a very small chance of a more serious side effect, like an allergic reaction. This is why you will be asked to stay at the vaccination site (a clinic, or your doctor’s office) for 15-30 minutes after getting the vaccine, so medical staff can take care of you.
  • You cannot get COVID-19 from the vaccine.

Where Can I Learn More?

Health Canada has also carefully reviewed the available medical evidence and no major safety concerns have been identified. Health Canada’s summary of the Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna vaccines in English and French are here:

Read this information in your language »

Child Minding Program

Child Minding is a program funded by the City of Toronto and is looking to support children with their homework and other recreational activities after class.

Kids can have support with Math, English or any homework from school. Also they can spend time learning how to make some crafts, easy recipes, music, doing some exercise with dancing class, learn how to draw with new techniques, practicing their reading and interacting with other kids, in a safe environment.

You only need to have internet and any device (cellphone, tablet or computer) and we will provide a link where you can join the group. Kids will receive the material for the class when it is needed.

We are covering 12 routes through the GTA for the food delivery and supporting over 1,000 individuals

We are proud to be supporting over 1000 individuals through our Food Delivery Program!! Every phone call, every food bag, every long delivery route – they all mean something. Not just a small something, but a BIG something.

Thanks to the City of Toronto, The Food Distribution Program is currently expanding to support more families and precarious migrants who have been affected by the second wave of COVID-19.

Over the last month, our list of families participating in the program grew a lot. We are currently helping over 1000 clients through our program.

Our routes increased from 5 to 12 in order to expand our reach and serve as many communities as possible, connecting our beautiful city during these very trying times.

In tandem with food delivery, our program has also been able to support precarious migrants in a multitude of ways, from providing much needed one time rent assistance, to informing our city’s most vulnerable about the COVID-19 virus and how to keep themselves and their families safe.

The Food Distribution Program has allowed our Centre to reach out to those who are uprooted within our community, supporting them as much as possible during these trying times.

We are deeply grateful to our volunteers and everyone involved in this program for making this possible.

Food and Income Security Program

At the FCJ Refugee Centre we continue working in solidarity with precarious migrants. We understand that this is a difficult and uncertain time for many, and we’re here to support and provide information to anyone who is in need.

We continue walking with uprooted people and building together a borderless humanity.

If you or anyone you know are in need of food security, income support or any basic need do not hesitate to contact us.

Arturo Calleja:

  • Email: acalleja @ fcjrefugeecentre.org
  • Phone: 416-469-9754 ext. 231

The Coordinator of the Food and Income Security Program is Jessie Kohut:

  • Email: jessie.kohut @ fcjrefugeecentre.org
  • Phone: 416-469-9754 ext. 243

More details about the program, in the following video:

Take from us what you need, and give to each other what you can

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This is the guiding philosophy of not only the FCJ Refugee Centre, but is at the very core of our common humanity. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen an enormous shift in the ways in which we interact, live our daily lives, and see the world around us. We have seen the turmoil that can be brought out in people when they are forced into situations of fear and vulnerability – circumstances so many of us who grew up in Canada with so many privileges have never had to face. But we’ve also seen the generosity of the spirit of our community.

Friends, partners, and neighbours coming together to donate food, arts & crafts supplies, toiletries. People coming together to volunteer their time and efforts to ensuring that their neighbours, and their neighbour’s neighbours have enough.

“From Our Kitchen Table to Yours” has been the manifestation of all of these efforts. An effort with results unprecedented in our Centre’s almost 30 year history. We’ve seen our entire staff and volunteer network shift to fulfill our commitment to the community. We’ve established a tremendous food and housing security initiative, making hundreds of connections in weeks alone.

From our humble community pantry, and from our kitchens to yours, we stand with you in solidarity. Our door is open today as it will be tomorrow.

Count on us.

FCJ Refugee Centre Community

Statement of Solidarity with BIPOC

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Racism, and in particular anti-Black racism and anti-Indigenous racism which has been promoted by white supremacy and colonialism is the very foundation upon which both Canada and the United States have been built. The incidents we have seen in recent weeks, incidents repeated so many times over the course of weeks, months, and years, have been a scary reminder of the realities faced by Black and Indigenous people. It is a reminder that the barbaric colonial displacement and genocide executed against North America’s First Nations, and the enslavement of African peoples continues to directly affect every person, particularly racialized communities, all across North America.

We stand in solidarity with, and alongside all people across this land, in demanding justice, accountability, and equity. We are calling for a fair, unbiased justice system which includes reparations from any government and authority involved in violence against racialized communities, particularly Black and Indigenous communities. We recognize the additional vulnerabilities experienced by racialized women and youth, and the tremendous systemic barriers faced by these populations.

The priority for the government must be funding humanity and not furthering oppression.

We recognize and support the resilience, the actions, the will, and the power of all oppressed people to fight for their freedom. But we recognize this self-determination with conscious awareness of our own privileges, and welcome the responsibility of joining in the resistance; refusing to stand silently by while violent barbaric acts of systemic oppression continue. We commit to actively and deliberately breaking the silence that protects and promotes structural and systemic racism wherever it exists across Turtle Island, our shared home.

Black Lives Matter Here. Indigenous Lives Matter Here. These lives are valid, are worthy, and are loved here. This is our shared home. And we will not stay silent.

Refugee Hearing Orientations Online

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Immigration Main Page »

Virtual Ready Tour

Are you a refugee claimant? You are invited to participate in the IRB-RPD VIRTUAL READY TOURS!

This is a great opportunity to meet the RPD (Refugee Protection Division) officers who will explain what is going to happen during your refugee hearing and how to be ready.

Ready Tours take place twice a month.

How to register:

  • Please click here to see the next Virtual Ready Tour available and fill in and send us the register form.
  • You will receive a confirmation email with the date and the time of the Ready Tour you are registered for.
  • The Virtual Ready Tour is facilitated in English. If you need an interpreter, please let us know in the register form the language you need support with.
  • If you need more information you can contact Carolina Teves:
    cteves @ fcjrefugeecentre.org

Refugee Hearings

The Refugee Protection Division, RPD, was scheduling in person and with virtual hearings.

However, due the emergency situation and the Ontario’s Stay at Home order for the COVID-19 pandemic, all the hearings in person are moving to remote.

» IRB moving to remote-only hearings as of January 18, 2021

Virtual Information sessions

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During this difficult time with COVID-19 looming over us,  we are working hard to offer useful webinars and individual services you need to get through this difficult time.

We are currently providing webinars on Thursdays from 10:30 to 11:30 am
For registration contact Carolina Teves: cteves@fcjrefugeecentre.org

This is a virtual conversation and will be focused on the Impact of COVID-19 on immigration issues, postponement of refugee hearings and resources available. Also, we will talk about what to do while you are waiting for your refugee hearing.

We cannot leave anyone behind

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This is a call to include all people with precarious immigration status in all emergency benefits and measures for housing, health services, education, employment and income support during the present health crisis.

There has been a significant response to support Canadians. The Canadian Government’s Economic Response Plan was implemented to support workers and businesses facing unprecedented challenges – including those not eligible for the Employment Insurance (EI) program and those without paid sick leave. While we applaud these supports, there are glaring gaps. People who fall between the cracks are some of our most vulnerable community members.

Many marginalized and oppressed people who walk through the doors at Refugee and Migrant support centres across the country, find themselves in need of support.  Now, in light of COVID-19, the situation for these communities is increasingly unbearable.

Most migrant workers, refugees (claimants and rejected claimants) and non-status individuals are ineligible to apply for current supports. They do not qualify for EI and Canadian Revenue Agency managed programs. Often, they are paid at minimum wage, some even below. International students are already restricted to the number of hours they can work per week, limiting their access to EI.

More than 30 community organizations and groups in Ontario endorsed an Open Letter in Solidarity with Migrant Workers, Non-Status individuals and their families as community workers, organizers, volunteers, teachers, students and residents of Ontario, Canada.

In unique times like this, Canadians must come together and not leave anyone behind.\

To read the complete letter:

Borderless Voices

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Borderless Voices is an open space for anyone who wants to share their story and experiences in Canada. Through this new space, FCJ Refugee Centre is featuring stories of refugees and other voiceless communities.

The first segment of this new section is focused on our 25 Anniversary and we are broadcasting short videos of successful stories and experiences from our former residents, clients, volunteers, friends and staff.

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