Care Canada has launched a campaign to remind Canadians that refugees are just like them and to raise awareness about the “staggering” numbers. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees has just released a report putting the current number of refugees around the world at 59.5 million. That amounts to 42,000 people fleeing their homes every day and is the highest number ever.
Canada is the third largest resettlement country, notes Jessie Thomson, director of the humanitarian and emergency team for CARE Canada. But, she says western countries are not doing enough and too much falls to developing nations.
“The burden of refugees and displaced (people) is really falling on host countries in the region that are already dealing with their own development challenges,” says Thomson. “So it falls upon countries in the global north to support them and to make sure that we’re not leaving them to deal with this massive displacement crisis on their own.”
‘It could just as easily be you or me’
Western populations may not feel that the refugee crises are close to them and not their problem, she says, but the CARE campaign strives to remind them that “It could just as easily be you or me. It’s really just a question of circumstance and that as a global community we all have a responsibility to step up and play a role in supporting those who have been affected by conflict around the world.”
Canada has pledged to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees over three years. As of January 2015, 1,285 Syrian refugees had been approved to come to Canada.”Almost 1,100 of those are in Canada,” said Immigration Minister Chris Alexander at the time. Thomson says Canada and other countries should be doing more given the massive need.
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