Canadian Government To Refugees: You’re On Your Own

A week ago I was attending my last day of class at the Canadian School of Peacebuilding. The 15 students in my “Speaking Up, and Being Heard” class on citizen advocacy spent much of that Friday morning presenting citizen advocacy campaigns that synthesized what we had learned. All of the campaigns were important ones, and all were well done. There was one, though, that caught our classes’ attention as soon as the three students showed us the video they had prepared. By that afternoon, the video was posted on Youtube and the campaign had a Facebook page. The campaign was going public, and over the last week has garnered well-deserved media attention. Way to go, Matt, Deanna and Maureen!

Here’s the video, along with some more information about it and some of the media hits the campaign has received in the last seven days:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQiSe00HOec]

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Refugees not approved of or invited by the Canadian government will no longer have access to affordable healthcare. This leaves them stranded and without support in a foreign country. The long term costs of social welfare spending far outweigh the cost today.We believe that if Canadians stop to consider the effect which these changes will have on the most vulnerable portion of our global society, that our country’s savings of 59 cents per person will be seen as insignificant.Therefore, we have put together the 59 cent campaign in which we are asking all Canadians to place 59 cents in an envelope and send it to the Prime Minister’s office to let him know that we will not stand for these cuts.In 2011 Canada was proudly a place of hope and healing to 12,000 refugees; this is a fact in which we take pride and wish to take pride in for generations to come.Postage to the Prime Minister’s office is free.  Send your 59 cents postage free to:

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper
Prime Minister of Canada, Office of P.M.
80 Wellington St.
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A2

59Cents.org

More links:
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Here’s another example of how Canadians, in particular doctors and other front line healthcare professionals, are mobilizing against this inhumane and short-sighted government policy:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75FmimeFnu8]

0 thoughts on “Canadian Government To Refugees: You’re On Your Own”

  1. It’s so encouraging to see these healthcare professionals speaking out against the budget cuts that will hurt refugees and other people new to Canada.

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