Refugees and Migrants

What companies are big in your country? Who employs a big workforce where you are? You could enlist these companies or individuals in helping refugees too.

Around the world, lots of businesses have either made it a policy to employ refugees, or have created dedicated training schemes to equip refugees with skills that a local employer will recognise.

For example, the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Toronto, Canada, has a six-week training course in hospitality specifically for refugees. Watch their General Manager talking about how the scheme is a win-win for them.

All it takes is for you to ask – so you could approach businesses in your community and ask them to make a specific commitment to train or employ refugees.

Learn more:

They fled war in Syria. Today, they manufacture emergency equipment for Canadians (National Observer)

Lots of the examples and stories shared over the past 20 days have been from Canada, and that’s for a very good reason. Canada has had a private refugee sponsorship programme that has existed since the 1970s, and has resettled tens of thousands of refugees through private sponsorship

Here is a video with Canadian sponsors, and refugees, talking about the scheme and why it is so important.

Does this sound like something you would like to be part of?

Contact the Refugee Sponsorship Training Program to find about about refugee sponsorship opportunities in Canada

See all refugee stories

by Gloria Nafziger, Campaigner, Refugees and Migrants, Amnesty International Canada

There are lots of people – politicians, celebrities, thought leaders - around the world who care deeply and passionately about refugees.

You can learn from them and you can help highlight what they say and do on social media.

Find those key, influential people and follow them – share what they post, tell them about what you’re doing as they may share this with their own networks, and you might be surprised at how much you get out of this.

Take Councillor Joe Mihevc, for example. He is City Councillor in Toronto and is also the refugee advocate for the city of Toronto. Himself the son of refugees, he feels it was “part of his DNA” and he is passionate about welcoming refugees to Toronto and making sure they settle well.

You can find out more about Joe here:

There are many people like him, perhaps even some in your local area, so find them and follow what they do and say to help spread their influence even further.

Today, we want you to hear and share stories of refugees.

Whether you go along to a refugee group in your community and hear stories told there, or just read the many stories about refugees on UNHCR’s website, listen to people’s stories as this is the best way to understand the issues facing refugees.

The more you listen, the more you ask questions, the better you will understand refugees and see that these are just people in a really difficult situation.

And you might be surprised about how much you get from this experience.

You’ve shown until now how much you care, so could you befriend a refugee and help them settle into your local community?

You may have to do a bit of research to find a local group that can facilitate this, but a good first place to check is with the organizations that provide services to refugees in your Community

Refugees that have the support of local people tend to settle in much better, so you would be making a huge difference to their lives.

It could be just a question of meeting someone for a coffee every now and then, to help them work out any issues they may have, or you could be a lot more hands-on and help a recently arrived refugee family navigate the welfare system in your country or register in school or learn to speak English. 

Yesterday we talked about finding or creating a safe space online or in your local community where you can meet likeminded people who also care about refugees.

Well, today we’re asking you to look into actual, real-life safe spaces you might find in your area. You might be able to find landlords locally that are willing to give a room or a whole property to refugees, or perhaps you have a space you can offer in your own home?

You could offer a place for refugees to stay in the short-term, or find people that are willing to do so.

Contact refugee service organizations in your community to find out how you can help them meet the needs of refugees in your community

Amir, a refugee from Syria, fled to Turkey and managed to learn Turkish, find work, and a place to live relatively easily. So he decided to rent out the rooms in his house to others fleeing Syria, so he could help and support them and make things easier for them in Turkey.