World Refugee Day

To honor the strength and resiliency of refugees, please come and attend our World Refugee Day event taking place Thursday, June 20, 2019 from 11 am – 4:00 pm and 6:30 – 9:00pm at Vancouver Public Library’s Central Branch. 
There will be many exciting features at this year’s World Refugee Day fair:
INFORMATION FAIR (11 A.M. – 2 P.M.)  There will an information fair for the public to meet agencies supporting refugees. This will take place on the  Promenade of the Vancouver Public Library.
REFUGEE VISUAL ARTS (11 A.M. – 2 P.M.) There will be a marketplace area in the Alice Mackay Room in the Lower Level for newcomers to Canada to exhibit and sell their art.
REFUGEE EXPERIENCE SIMULATION (11 A.M – 2 P.M.) ‘Walk with Me’ is a unique refugee simulation experience! From 11 am to 2 pm in the Alice Mackay Room, we welcome you to participate in a life changing, interactive experience, which will provide a glimpse into a refugee journey's to Canada. Refugees face numerous challenges when fleeing their home country. The journey does not stop upon arrival to Canada, however. As inland refugee claimants, they navigate a highly complex and challenging process of seeking legal status in Canada. As a way of increasing public awareness and education on refugee claimants' lived experiences, we will be provided a simulated experience of what it is like to claim asylum in Canada. 
STARTING OVER (11 AM – 12:30 PM) In the Alma-Kaye rooms downstairs a panel of former refugee claimants, will talk about their personal experiences ‘starting over’ in Canada. This panel will host a variety of backgrounds. 
PROCLAMATION & SPEECHES (12:30 P.M. – 1:00 P.M)  Please join us at 12:30 P.M. on the Promenade (Main Floor) to hear Deputy Mayor Councilor Rebecca Bligh read the City of Vancouver Proclamation marking World Refugee Day. There will also be a keynote address from Justin Negara, a former refugee claimant about his journey to a new life in BC. 
REFUGEE LAW IN TROUBLING TIMES (1:00 PM – 2:00 PM) Join us in the Alma-Kaye rooms downstairs to hear from prominent local refugee lawyers about current issues and what challenges claimants, and the lawyers who serve them, are facing.  
OUR LIVES IN MUSIC (2:30 PM – 4:00PM) Also in the Alma-Kaye rooms the very first World Refugee Day concert! Listen to a variety of music from those who came to Canada as refugees from all over the world.  
STARTING OVER #2 (6:30 PM – 8:00 PM followed by a panel discussion until 9:00PM) Another Starting Over event: a panel focusing on the distinct needs of LGBTQ + refugee claimants, their experiences in Canada, the challenges they faced, the agencies that helped them and where they are now in their Canadian journeys. Partnering with Rainbow Refugee and MOSAIC’s ‘I Belong’ program and featuring the photographic exhibition #BreakTheStigma. 
 TERRITORIAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The event organizers would like to acknowledge that this event takes place on the ancestral, unceded and occupied territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. In the spirit of reconciliation, we thank these nations for allowing us to organize on these lands and we commit to promoting intercultural engagement and diversity from a decolonial and intersectional perspective.  ACCESSIBILITY There is a ramp and motorized door for folks using wheelchairs at the Main Entrance of the Library on Homer Street (at the intersection of West Georgia St). There is elevator access to the Lower Level in the Alice Mackay Room for folks wishing to visit the refugee simulation experience. On the Lower Level, there are gendered washrooms, but these are trans-welcome with signs indicating so. The doors are not motorized but are wide enough to fit those in wheelchairs.  AGENCY INFORMATION: This event is organized in partnership with Multi-Agency Partnership (MAP), whose members include United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), MOSAIC, the Vancouver Association for Survivors of Torture (VAST) and Settlement Orientation Services at Immigrant Services Society

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World Refugee Day

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