Refugee Participation

• CCR Refugee Participation policy
• Amina Malko Fund
• Registration fee waiver at Consultations. Refugees without an organization to pay their registration fee for the Spring and Fall Consultations can register to attend free

Amina Malko Memorial Fund 

This fund is named after Amina Malko, a former CCR Executive Committee member, a long time refugee rights activist in Toronto with the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI) and at one time a refugee herself. She passed away in March 2001 in the prime of her life.

The fund was created by the CCR in recognition of the financial barriers which limit refugee participation. There are two components to the fund:

Fund for Refugee participation:  Selected candidates have part of their expenses covered to attend a CCR consultation

Fund for Refugee Leadership: Selected candidates have part of their expenses covered to attend three CCR meetings for a year. 

Policy Statement on Refugee Participation

1. The CCR affirms its collective intention to take into consideration refugee representation when nominating and electing the Executive Committee;
2. The CCR will develop Executive Committee job descriptions which will include the responsibility of the Executive to do outreach and recruitment in their community including visits with interested groups of refugees to encourage participation;
3. Each CCR working group will develop outreach, recruitment and integration strategies to increase refugee participation in the working groups;
4. When organizing consultation workshops and panels, the Executive and the Working Groups will be sensitive to refugee representation along with French/English and male/female representation;
5. The CCR will make a "three for one" offer on consultation registrations for the first consultation of a new refugee-based group, recognizing that the consultation can be intimidating for a newcomer;
6. The CCR will develop introductory materials, such as the list of acronyms, to help reduce the information gap between "newcomers" and "old hands";
7. The CCR will develop introductory sessions, to be held at the beginning of each consultation, to explain the resolutions process and the structure of the CCR and to answer questions about the organization and how to participate;
8. For all future hiring of staff the CCR will seek candidates from refugee communities and with equal qualifications will hire preferentially individuals with a refugee background.

Adopted May 1992