NOVA SCOTIA (June 6, 2024) – RefugePoint, a nonprofit organization that partners with refugees to access life-changing solutions, today announces its official registration in Canada, further solidifying its continued presence and joint partnership with the Canadian government. The organization, which has been operating in the U.S. since 2005, has been partnering with the Government of Canada for over 15 years to help refugees access legal pathways to safety in the country.
“This milestone marks a significant step forward in our mission to provide lasting solutions for the world’s most vulnerable refugees,” said Sasha Chanoff, RefugePoint founder and CEO. “With our new Canadian base, we can expand our reach and strengthen our partnerships with Canadian organizations and communities. This registration not only enhances our ability to mobilize resources and support but also reinforces our commitment to advocating for and protecting refugees globally. Together, we can create more opportunities for refugees to rebuild their lives in safety and dignity.”
For refugees who can’t remain safely where they are, RefugePoint helps to permanently resettle them to a safe, new country to rebuild their lives. RefugePoint and the Canadian government have executed a memorandum of understanding, which provides a framework for the organization to identify and refer refugees facing extreme vulnerabilities for resettlement to Canada. In any given year, as one of Canada’s trusted partners, RefugePoint submits around 100 refugees for resettlement consideration through its High Commission office in Nairobi.
RefugePoint believes that family unity, a fundamental human right, should be accessible to refugees no matter where they come from or where their families are located. Its staff members work in countries around the world to help separated families—including unaccompanied and separated children—to reunite in Canada and other countries.
The organization’s labor mobility program is one of the first of its kind in the world—helping to match qualified refugees in Kenya with employers in Canada and then supporting them throughout the process of immigrating with their families. The project, Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (EMPP), is funded in part by the Canadian government. As of April, 163 refugees have received job offers in Canada through the EMPP, resulting in 784 people (inclusive of job applicants and their families) securing a solution to their displacement through the program.
RefugePoint is a founding member of the Global Task Force on Labour Mobility, currently chaired by the Government of Canada, and participated in the launch of the task force in 2018, alongside Minister Sean Fraser and UNHCR’s High Commissioner for Refugees.
To celebrate the launch of its Canadian operations, RefugePoint hosted a screening and panel discussion of “Bahati” at the Canadian Museum of Immigration on June 5. The panel touched on refugee labor mobility issues and the innovative solutions Nova Scotia’s Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration are spearheading with RefugePoint. Attendees included RefugePoint Technical Advisor Bahati Maganjo; N.S. Department of Labour, Skills & Immigration Senior Executive Director Jennifer L’Esperance; and RefugePoint Resettlement and Complementary Pathways Coordinator Sylvia Kamencu.
“Nova Scotia is proud to be at the forefront of national efforts to open the door for refugees while bolstering the province’s economic growth,” said Hon. Jill Basler, Minister of Nova Scotia Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration. “Our work with organizations like RefugePoint allows us to attract and retain top talent for Nova Scotian employers in an innovative way that also gives refugees more opportunities to successfully settle in a new home.”
To learn more about RefugePoint or to donate to these initiatives, visit: https://www.refugepoint.ca/
About RefugePoint
RefugePoint, founded in 2005, is a nonprofit organization that seeks to expand access to lasting solutions for refugees, especially those facing vulnerabilities who are underserved by aid systems. For refugees who must remain in the country to which they have fled, RefugePoint helps them to reach stability and work towards self-reliance, so they can meet their own needs. For refugees who can’t go home and can’t safely stay in the country to which they have fled, RefugePoint helps them relocate to a safe, new country, through resettlement or other pathways to safety, like family reunification and labor mobility. RefugePoint helps refugees access these solutions using three tactics: direct services, field building, and systems change. Through this three-pronged approach, RefugePoint provides direct services to thousands of refugees each year, strengthens the capacity of other organizations to better serve refugees, and influences global policy and practice to transform refugee response systems.
Since its founding in 2005, RefugePoint has helped over 140,000 refugees access resettlement and other pathways to safety, and thousands more to achieve self-reliance and inclusion in their host communities. Learn more at refugepoint.org.
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