The CCR is committed to promoting full participation of refugees in the CCR and has taken the following measures to promote their particpation:

1) CCR Refugee Participation policy (see below).

2) CCR Refugee Participation Fund (below)

3) Refugee Women’s meetings. At each Consultation a refugee women's meeting is held for and by refugee women. It is a place to meet to share experiences, network, address specific issues and identify actions for follow up.

4) 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.

This fund is named after Amina Malko, a long time refugee rights activist in Toronto, ON 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. Every year the selected candidates have at least part of their expenses covered to attend CCR meetings for a year. Applications are invited towards the end of each calendar year to attend CCR meetings in the following year. The invitation is sent to member organizations and is circulated on the ccrlist.

At each CCR consultation a space is offered for refugee women to meet to share experiences, network, address specific issues and identify actions for follow up. It is a meeting for and by refugee women.

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