Take a look at our Summer Newsletter and learn about our new programs and activities.

We are excited to announce the  increasing number of orientation sessions in Toronto to help refugee claimants prepare for their hearings. A Ready Tour is a refugee hearing orientation session and has become a key resource for unrepresented claimants. After the legal aids cuts we see an increasing number of participants with no legal representative.

• As you know Ready Tours are scheduled twice a month. However, due the increased number of registrations, the program will expand. Starting in August there will be one session per week depending on the demand.
• Besides the expansion, the session also will be facilitated in other languages depending on the participants needs. The first session  is scheduled is in Spanish  on August 30
• This is the calendar for the upcoming sessions:

August  1^st    

August  15^th

August 29^th

August 30^th  pilot session in Spanish

For registrations  just send the above information to readytour@fcjrefugeecentre.org

1. First name:
2. Last name:
3. E mail:
4. Telephone number:
5. Country of origin:
6. Date of claim :(Month/Year)
7. Hearing date :(Month/Day/Year)
8. Do you have a legal representative?
9. Who referred you to the Ready Tour, how did you learn about it?
10. What do you want to learn during the Ready Tour?
11. If you want to refer a group of participants from your agency, just fill out the following chart with the information and send it to me:

I am sending the current flyer we are using. I will send the new one as soon as it is ready.

Thank  you

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 26^th, 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 TESTIMONY

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 22^nd 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

Lmata@fcjrefugeecentre.org

416-4699754 ext. 242

The RAD information sessions  will provide front line workers and  refugee appellants  a FREE opportunity to be better prepared for the presentation of their appeal before the RAD.

Workers and  Rejected refugees will learn the steps to follow and how to document your appeal before the Refugee Appeal Division (RAD).

Analysts from Refugee Appeal Division, RAD, will talk about submissions of  documents, what happen after the refugee hearing, when the RPD process finish, when the RAD process begins and deadlines.

Next session March 1st, 2019 from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm

Confirm your interest in attending the next session with  Carolina Teves  cteves@fcjrefugeecentre.org

This informative sessions are possible thanks to the support of the Law Foundation

Calendar from January to April 2019

READY TOUR is a free program for refugee claimants waiting for their refugee hearing.
Sign UP and visit a refugee hearing room.
If you are a refugee claimant, this is a unique opportunity to be better prepared for your hearing, see an actual refugee hearing room.
For many refugee claimants the time before their hearing is stressful.  The refugee hearing caused them additional stress and anxiety.
Benefits of the Ready Tour

• Learn what  will happen at the refugee hearing
• Levels of anxiety  will  decrease
• Empower participants to be well prepare for their  refugee hearing
• Learn who can participate at your hearing
• What to do if you did not attend your hearing, or it was canceled
• What will happen when the hearing finish

REGISTRATION

If you want to register for the Ready Tour, please  answer the following questions and send it to Carolina Teves cteves@fcjrefugeecentre.org

1. First name
2. Last name
3. E mail:
4. Telephone number:
5. Country of origin:
6. Date of claim:(Month/Year)
7. Hearing date:(Month/Day/Year)
8. Do you have a legal representative?
9. Who referred you to the Ready Tour, how did you learn about it?
10. What do you want to learn during the Ready Tour?

Ready Tours are scheduled FROM 9:30 AM TO 11:30 AM as follow:

Our seasonal newsletter provides exciting updates on:

1. Every act of generosity counts!
2. Fabian’s Story
3. Selling Christmas trees at Ikea North York
4. Art exhibition on January 3rd 2019
5. A volunteer experience at the FCJ Primary Care Clinic
6. FCJ Refugee Centre is pleased to receive funding from the Catalyst Grant
7. A Ready Tour Story …..

Today, on the 70^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR) underlines its message that everyone is deserving of basic rights and human dignity, not because of their citizenship or their immigration status, but because they are human beings.

For refugees fleeing persecution, Article 14 of the Declaration is key: “Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.” This fundamental right is now part of international and Canadian law. On this basis, anyone who makes a refugee claim at the border or within Canada must be given a chance to explain why they need our protection.

Despite the promise of the Declaration, refugees and migrants still have their rights abused and face exploitation and situations of human trafficking around the world. Migrants are often subject to xenophobia and targeted by divisive politicians.

Canadians can be proud that Canada is showing leadership in bringing countries together to improve respect for the rights of all migrants with the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. While the Compact is not legally binding, it offers a pathway of cooperation between countries that will reduce the pressures forcing people to leave their home countries. When people do migrate, this new framework will increase respect for individual rights and allow receiving communities, including in Canada, to benefit more fully from migrants’ contributions.

As a world leader in championing human rights, Canada must strive to do better and respect the rights of refugees and migrants. This means that Canada should:

• Address the root causes that force people to leave their home countries (including climate change and Canadian involvement in situations of displacement).
• Resettle 20,000 Government-Assisted Refugees each year.
• Process Privately Sponsored Refugee applications within one year.
• Withdraw from the Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement.
• Guarantee access to fair and independent refugee determination within a reasonable time.
• Reunite refugees in Canada with their families more quickly.
• Ensure access to justice for exploited or trafficked migrants.
• Offer access to permanent residence to all migrant workers.
• Ensure that immigration status does not bar access to key international rights in Canada. Canada too often ties rights and benefits to immigration status, excluding people with limited or no status.

Canadian Council for Refugees

Thank you to Dr Jizi  Moza, Director of the Clinic: Clinica Integral de Atención a Retornados, for sharing his experience working with returnees to El Salvador.

The presentation was very informative, It was great to learn about the impact of deportation on immigrants and how a Comprehensive Care Clinic has been set up in Central America to help them.

Every year, more than 13,000 people are deported from the United States to El Salvador. Dr Jizi  Moza explained that many of them do not have access to basic services like health. People who was living for decades are deported to a country they have not seen in years.

As part of the Holiday Season, FCJ Refugee Center has started to sell Christmas trees at Ikea north York location.

The tree selling season is from November 23th to December 24th. Every time that you buy a tree at this location, you will be supporting newcomers and refugees.

Also when you purchase a natural fir tree for $25 you will receive a coupon for $25 off an IKEA purchase.

To help fund its important work, the FCJ Refugee Centre has launched an ambitious Fall fundraising and awareness-raising campaign that includes several ways to support the centre. Please check it out here and join us!

We would like to invite you to help us keep celebrating by donating $25.00 (or more) to ensure our continued commitment to “walking with uprooted people.”