Canadian Council for Refugees | Working together on behalf of refugees and immigrants

Upcoming meetings

Access to Justice for Trafficked Persons Legal Case Study Hack | 28 Feb - 28 Feb 2019 | Toronto
Winter Working Group meetings, 1-2 March 2019 | 1 Mar - 2 Mar 2019 | Toronto
Spring Consultation 2019 | 30 May - 1 Jun 2019 | Victoria

Winter Working Group meetings, 1-2 March 2019

Do you want to be part of efforts to promote rights for refugees? Want to participate in in-depth discussions on pressing issues affecting refugees and immigrants in Canada? Looking for an opportunity to share information and strategies with others from across Canada?

Anyone interested is welcome to participate, especially CCR members; however meetings are closed to media and government employees. There is no cost to participate and there is no need to register in advance.

FRIDAY 1 March 2019: Salvation Army, 160 Jarvis St., Toronto

9:30am - 5pm: Inland Protection Working Group meeting

SATURDAY 2 March 2019: Salvation Army, 160 Jarvis St., Toronto

9:30am – 4:30pm: Overseas Protection & Resettlement Working Group meeting

9:30am – 4:30pm: Immigration and Settlement Working Group meeting

Not able to come to Toronto for the Working Group meetings? Here’s how to connect:

The CCR will be holding a virtual meeting for CCR members in English on Tuesday 26 February at 1:30 pm Eastern, for those unable to participate in the CCR Working Group meetings in person. The virtual meeting will be an opportunity to:

Hear recent updates on priority issues
Give input on matters on the agenda of the working group meetings
Suggest workshop themes at the upcoming Spring Consultation in Victoria
Raise current issues of concern (for possible follow up by the Working Groups)

CCR members can click here to register for the English-language virtual meeting. You must be logged in to your account on the CCR website to access this page.

Il y aura une rencontre virtuelle similaire en français le mardi 26 février à 15h (Heure de l'Est).

How to get there:

The Salvation Army Harbour Light Ministries in Toronto is located at 160 Jarvis Street, between Queen and Shuter.

By public transport - Queen subway station. Walk or take the streetcar – no.s 501 or 502 - east from the station.

By car - Click here for a map of the area.

Parking - There is no parking available at the Salvation Army. Street parking is possible, but you need to pay every two hours.

On the agenda:

Proposed agendas for the meetings will be available on the Working Group webpages for logged-in CCR members and will also be sent by email to the CCRLIST. Handouts will also be available with background information on the Working Group webpages shortly before the meetings.

And there’s more if you are concerned about human trafficking issues:

Access to Justice for Trafficked Persons: Legal Case Study Hack, 28 February, Toronto

This in-person networking and training meeting will be an opportunity for immigration and refugee lawyers to collaborate with front-line service providers. Using a participatory and case study approach, the group will learn and share knowledge of recourses, challenges and best practices in addressing the legal needs of exploited and trafficked persons.

More information about location and time coming soon.

General Information

Consultations

The Canadian Council for Refugees holds 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 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 February (in Toronto) and in September (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.

Languages