Munirul-Haq Raza | Contributor
Featured image: Former Governor General the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson speaks on her experiences as a refugee. | Munirul-Haq Raza
York wants to change the way you think about refugees, inviting a starstudded cast to host the Re-imagining Refuge symposium at Glendon last Monday.
Panelists included Liberal MPP Shafiq Qaadri, York President and Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri, President of Universities Canada Paul Davidson and the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, Canada’s 26th governor general, among other academics.
Shoukri emphasized the importance of discussing the plight of refugees, as it is a meaningful moral and academic issue. York volunteered to host the Universities of Canada event in honour of Canada’s 150th anniversary, which is fitting as York has a Centre for Refugee Studies.
Clarkson presented the keynote address, detailing her experiences as a refugee from Japanese-occupied Hong Kong. She highlighted her experience with education, integration and government policies and spoke about the struggles immigrants face.
Organizer Christina Clark-Kazak said the goal was to think of creative solutions to address issues surrounding the large-scale movement of people.
She also stressed changing the discourse of refugees to think of them as human beings who come with capacity, talent, education and challenges. The discussion of refugees as being a burden is dehumanizing, according to Clark-Kazak.
“They’re coming and bringing huge amounts of talent and perspectives,” says Clark-Kazak.
“We’re doing it for humanitarian reasons, but also as a society benefiting from migration.”
The event ended in a panel discussion called Re-imagining Locally, Nationally and Globally, with Jennifer Hyndman, director of the Centre for Refugee Studies, Loly Rico, president of the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants and co-director of the Faithful Companions of Jesus Refugee Centre, and Mary Jo Leddy, founder of refugee shelter Romero House.
Leddy and Hyndman presented different struggles of refugees and migration, including finding affordable housing and places where refugees are allowed to work.
