Many
countries hold their own
refugee day or week. In Canada
we celebrate Refugee Rights Day, April 4th,
the date in 1985
of the
Supreme Court of Canada Singh
et al decision which required that
refugees have a fair hearing of their
claim to refugee status. Such
local days
are important for recalling needs of
refugees in relevant ways and
renewing
non-governmental energies. At the same
time, it is important to recall
that work
with refugees is a globalized activity.
What anyone does with refugees
anywhere
around the globe affects someone in some
other part of the globe. World
Refugee
Day expresses that global connectedness
but it captures a solidarity of
work
with refugees as well.
For
several years, June 20th was
celebrated
as Refugee Day across the continent of Africa.
Then, late 2000, the UN General Assembly
decided that from 2001, 20
June would
be celebrated as World Refugee Day. The
General Assembly resolution
said it was
“an expression of solidarity with Africa,
which hosts the most refugees, and which
traditionally has shown them
great
generosity.” There were celebrations of
World Refugee Day in a variety
of
cities across Canada
this June 20, 2008. I only got to one of
them – in Toronto, Ontario.
As
I walked around the colourful
display tables set out under sun shelter
tents and umbrellas around the
walkways and lawns outside Toronto’s
Metro
Hall in the cool bright noon sunshine, it
felt like a happy
celebration. Agency
people chatted to each other. I met old
friends in Amnesty, Salvation
Army and
Centre for Victims of Torture tents and
renewed an acquaintance from
the early
days of the Quaker Refugee Program. I was
helped to remember the roll
played by
the City of Toronto’s
shelters
and housing programs and was reminded of
the referral program
of the
Red Cross and its special family finding
work. There was a happy sense
of
solidarity among those working with
refugees in this sunshine – far
from the
efforts to get release from detention, to
prevent inappropriate
deportation and
the general anger about injustices that
occupy much of the year. Part
of me
wished that Refugee Rights Day had not
been in the cold which blankets
much of Canada
in early
April, forcing activities to be planned
for grey skies and inside
buildings.
There
is a natural flow for this
kind of event. As for Refugee Rights Day,
there was a formal part
between noon
and 2pm. This was on a stage under a large
open tent erected in the
square with
seating in front for those of us with
sandwiches. There was a short
welcome and
opening speech by UNHCR’s Rana Khan and a
Proclamation by councillor
Joe Mihevc
for the City of Toronto.
These were surrounded by some fine music
presented by individuals and
groups
spanning Africa, Latin America and Iraq.
There were also
presentations
by Pedro Valdez
of Human Rights Press and Adeena Niazi of
the Afghan Women’s
Organization. The
Day ended with a citizenship ceremony and
reception. A reminder that
most
Western States allow most persons granted
asylum to proceed to
citizenship – if
with delays.
Perhaps
it’s not such a bad thing
that April 4th Refugee Rights
Day falls at a harsher time in
the
calendar. It helps us to remember the
injustices still to be addressed.
But
it’s also good to remember in the warmer
time of World Refugee Day that
there
are agencies seeking to protect refugees
around the globe and that some
refugees do get to rebuild lives in safety
and dignity with a new
citizenship.
We need both. The glass is part full and
part empty.
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