General Information
Consultations
The Canadian Council for Refugees holds one to two Consultations each year, one in the spring (May or June) and one in the fall (November or December). The Consultations are held in different cities.
CCR Consultations address issues of refugee protection and immigrant and refugee settlement. They bring together 300 or more people from across Canada and beyond. Participants include refugees, immigrants, representatives of NGOs, government, UNHCR, academics and international guests. A General meeting of members is always held at these Consultations, where the resolutions that drive CCR policy are moved and adopted.
The consultations offer a key opportunity for information-exchange, networking, strategy development and discussion.
People who work with newcomers and those with a personal interest in refugees and immigrants are warmly invited.
The consultation is an excellent opportunity to:
- meet and learn from experts in the field
- exchange information and prepare resolutions on a broad range of refugee and newcomer issues
- contribute to the CCR working groups’ ongoing dialogue on policy and legislation.
Working group meetings
The CCR’s three Working Groups provide a forum to exchange information, network and develop policy positions on issues related to the Working Group.
Each Working Group is responsible for following issues, promoting engagement of members and the public, developing recommendations for policy and action, and encouraging learning. This includes planning workshops, preparing resolutions, following up on action items, and advising the CCR Executive on policy. Click here for further information on the terms of reference for the Working Groups.
The CCR Working Groups meet three to four times a year. Two of these meetings take place during the consultations (see above). The other two series of working group meetings take place in the winter (generally in Toronto) and in the summer (generally in Montreal). The Working Group meetings are closed to representatives of government and the media.
The working group meetings offer an excellent opportunity to:
- Participate in efforts to promote refugee protection and resettlement, and the settlement of refugees and immigrants
- Discuss in depth pressing issues affecting refugees and immigrants in Canada
- Share information and strategies with others from across Canada
Click here for more information about the CCR Working Groups
Photography, filming and audio recording
To protect the privacy of participants, we ask you to respect our policy restricting any forms of recording during CCR sessions. You may however take photos (or film or audio record) outside the CCR sessions (for example in the coffee area or lobbies, or before or after a workshop session), but ONLY after explaining the purpose and obtaining permission of each person photographed, filmed or recorded. The policy is available at http://ccrweb.ca/en/policy-recording
There will be CCR photographers taking pictures during some of the sessions, so that we can document the consultation. If you do not wish to be included in any of the photos, sit in the part of the room that is marked as photo-free. In certain circumstances, the CCR may grant exceptions to specific projects involving recording during a session. Applicants would need to make a request in advance. For more information, see http://ccrweb.ca/en/recording-request.