Nest is working to sponsor women activists from Afghanistan and Sudan, who were forced to flee their homes due to their work for women’s equality. Nest is sponsoring Maryam, her spouse and two small children. Maryam (pictured here) is an Afghan journalist specializing in gender and human rights. She also is a member of the persecuted Hazara minority. When the Taliban took power on August … Continue reading Nest provides asylum to women activists
Yubis, his wife Ruda, and their two young daughters are Sudanese refugees in Tel Aviv. Nest submitted their sponsorship application in 2018 and again in 2019. Years have passed but the Canadian embassy has not contacted them. Nest members recently met with Saskatoon MP Corey Tochor’s staff to try to get traction on their refugee sponsorship application. Yubis tried too. Last month, he left his … Continue reading Dear Canadian embassy:
The owners of The Little Market Box and Glam Bar Hair and Esthetic Studio in Saskatoon are stepping up to support Nest’s fundraising drive to bring two young Afghan refugee women to the city. The co-owners of The Little Market Box Shawnda Blacklock and Julianna Tan (who just received the 2021 RBC Ones to Watch Entrepreneur Award) have been collecting donations for Abeda and Zainab … Continue reading Shout-out to The Little Market Box and the Glam Bar!
A group called Change.org is calling on the Canadian government to change two key requirements of the immigration and refugee program to address the Afghan crisis and allow more Afghans to get to Canada. In a petition to the Canadian government, the group says the government must remove the language assessment requirement for skilled Afghan workers. “The requirement for English proficiency and biometrics for Skilled … Continue reading Petition urges Afghan action
In response to the Afghan crisis, the Canadian government promised to settle up to 40,000 Afghan refugees. It also committed to fast-track Afghan asylum requests, stating it would give priority to women leaders, human rights advocates, persecuted religious minorities and others. But months later, there are still no details about the Canadian government’s Afghan resettlement plan or the expedited process. How will Afghan refugees be … Continue reading Afghan crisis: More questions than answers
Nest is waiting to welcome 14 refugee families to Saskatoon, including Afghan human rights champion Maria and her two sons, Afghan women Abeda and Zainab who are fleeing the Taliban, and Sudanese activist Wafaa Idress, her husband and four children.
Here is the current list of Nest sponsorships: Continue reading “Nest family sponsorships”
Thanks to everyone who purchased tickets and donated to our Nest Mother’s Day Lunch. We sold 110 tickets to the lunch and generated more than $5,400 in tickets sales and donations! A special thank you to head chefs Mary Uzelman (cutting vegetables) Lois Wakeman (pictured in red apron), along with Eleanor Kennedy (brown apron) and Rick Wakeman! Thanks as well to Gayle Nemeth, Ebtsam and … Continue reading The Nest Mother’s Day Lunch
It took three attempts, but a Syrian refugee family in Lebanon finally arrived in Saskatoon on April 12. The family is now in quarantine for two weeks. Mohamad, his wife Rasha and their four children were contacted in January by the International Office of Migration (IOM) and told they would travel to Canada in February. They were overjoyed. It was news they had waited years … Continue reading Third attempt: Lift-off!
When it comes to hosting refugees, Lebanon stands the tallest. This assessment is based on a report by the Norwegian Refugee Council. The council looked at which countries hosted the most refugees (per capita) between 2010 to 2019. As the Council notes, most of the countries on the top ten list have done so despite facing enormous challenges of their own, including civil wars, Ebola … Continue reading Which countries stand tallest?
Nest and other refugee settlement groups heaved a sigh of relief this week when Ottawa announced it will cover the cost of mandatory hotel quarantine and Covid tests for arriving refugees. The mandatory quarantine rules, which went into effect February 22, require people flying into Canada to quarantine in an authorized hotel for three nights, while they await negative test results for Covid 19. Originally, … Continue reading Ottawa picks up the tab for quarantine
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