Refugees Belong
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Other Sponsorship Efforts
Resources for Refugees and Sponsors
Learn about the Refugee Crisis
​About Us​
"I feel I don't belong anywhere ...
I hope for a better life and somewhere I belong"
- Danah (Syrian, age 13), as told to Micheal Tutton for The Canadian Press.
Danah settled in Nova Scotia with her family in the spring of 2015, and now lives in Halifax. She hopes Canadians will welcome her.
Refugees Belong is an initiative based in the Halifax Regional Municipality (Nova Scotia, Canada). It is a group of concerned individuals who intend to raise the required funds and establish the support systems necessary to support refugee resettlement in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Currently, we are engaged in a private refugee sponsorship effort to welcome a family of four from Syria and a family of two from Zimbabwe. One of our members has also launched a crowdfunding campaign to Support Syrian Newcomers with Learning English.
The Refugees Belong team is composed of 6 core members who live in Dartmouth, Halifax, and Lower Sackville (where our sponsored family will be living). We are fortunate to have a broader network of enthusiastic supporters and contributors as we move forward.
Canada is the only country in the world with a private refugee sponsorship program that allows citizens to increase the government's capacity to welcome more refugees by demonstrating that they can provide for the refugee family's financial, social, and practical needs for a year. Refugees Belong will also serve as a platform for increasing public awareness of refugee concerns, publicizing resources for refugees and their sponsors, and highlighting stories of local, former refugees who have found belonging in Canada.
Refugees Belong was first launched in early October 2015 (you can read our origin story on the blog). Explore this website for more information, stay connected through our Facebook page, sign up here for email updates, and contact us if you have any questions.
What is the meaning and intent behind the name 'Refugees Belong'?
"None is too many," is what a Canadian immigration official infamously said in 1939 when asked how many Jewish people Canada would give refuge to. Over 900 Jews aboard the M. S. St. Louis ship, who were fleeing the war, neared the Halifax Habour and requested to land. Tragically they were turned away and forced to return to Europe.
"They don't belong here," is unfortunately a common refrain in the comment sections of various online periodicals and in conversation, when the topic of Syrian refugees comes up.
In response to these types of awful discriminatory statements and actions, this initiative asserts: "Yes, they do belong. Refugees belong here". ​People like Danah, belong here. The people who were on that ship in 1939; they belonged here.
Between 1979 and 1980, following the Vietnam war, Canadian citizens made use of Canada's unique private sponsorship program for the first time by signing up to sponsor over 30,000 Indochinese refugees to come to Canada. The government agreed to match this number. In 18 months Canada had welcomed more than 60,000 Indochinese refugees to this country. In 1979, Canadians knew that refugees belonged here.
During the Kosovo war in 1999, the Canadian government moved quickly to airlift over 5,000 Kosovar refugees from the conflict zone in a matter of a few weeks (Operation PARASOL). They were initially lodged at military bases in Ontario and Nova Scotia (i.e. Greenwood, Aldershot, Gagetown, and Halifax). Many Kosovar refugees found belonging in Nova Scotia and settled permanently in our communities where they raised their families and made valuable contributions to our social, cultural, and economic fabric.
Now, at a time when there are nearly 60 million forcibly displaced people in the world - the worst refugee crisis since WWII - it is this type of quick response and warm welcome that Canadians should aspire to provide again.
The word 'belonging' is relational and subjective. Within the refugee context the word references more than simply being physically transferred to a safe location. The concept of belonging evokes a sense of relatedness and social connectedness; a sense of being part of a community who cares about you, who accepts you for who you are, and recognizes and values your contributions. To experience belonging is to feel at home in this world.
Through refugee sponsorship and building public awareness, Refugees Belong will contribute to building and cultivating communities of belonging for Canadian newcomers.