About
Learn about My Refugee Claim and the history and the organizations behind it.
My Refugee Claim is for refugee claimants
Refugee claimants are people who want refugee protection in Canada.
People who leave their home country because of persecution and ask for protection in another country are called asylum seekers. In Canada, asylum seekers are called refugee claimants.
When they arrive in Canada, refugee claimants start on a long and complicated journey. If they are successful, they can apply to become permanent residents. Refugee claimants are not Government Assisted Refugees or Privately Sponsored Refugees, who become permanent residents when they arrive in Canada.
My Refugee Claim was created by frontline workers, legal experts, and refugee claimants. The goal was to make the refugee protection system easier for all refugee claimants.
My Refugee Claim is driven by four key commitments
My Refugee Claim resources
If you are a refugee claimant in Canada, the Orientation Booklet and MyRefugeeClaim.ca are designed for you. They will help you get informed, connected, and prepared. However, they are not meant to replace good legal advice.
If you are a settlement or community worker, lawyer, other legal representative, or concerned Canadian, use these resources with refugee claimants as you help them on their journey.
My Refugee Claim resources support the refugee claimant
This simple graphic shows where the My Refugee Claim resources best support the refugee claimant on their journey.
Background
In 2008, Kinbrace, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR Canada), and the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada – Refugee Protection Division (Western Region) together launched Ready Tours for refugee claimants in Vancouver, BC.
The Refugee Hearing Preparation Guide was developed in 2010 as an easy-to-read pamphlet for claimants attending the Ready Tours in Vancouver. Its popularity, and the discussions it inspired, led to the creation of an expanded 48-page booklet in 2014. The booklet was translated into 11 languages and regularly updated and adapted for the six regions in Canada where refugee hearings are held in-person. The multilingual guides remain available here. Caution: The guides were last updated in 2019-2020. Information may have changed.
In 2017, Ready Tour registration and the Refugee Hearing Preparation Guide were brought together in the online resource Ready For My Refugee Hearing (French, English). The goal was to better reach refugee claimants by connecting information, processes, and service providers.
The 2020 pandemic led to significant changes in the refugee process. This created an opportunity to imagine a broad public legal education and information resource that would be accessible for refugee claimants, and easier to update and manage for providers.
The result is the extensive yet mobile-friendly and printable My Refugee Claim website, that informs, connects, and well prepares people seeking refugee protection in Canada.
Get the Refugee Hearing Preparation Guide
Project Partners
Ongoing gratitude for the following partners and funders who make My Refugee Claim possible.
NATIONAL PARTNERS
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Canada
REGIONAL PARTNERS
ALBERTA
Calgary Catholic Immigration Society
Calgary Legal Guidance
Edmonton Immigrant Services Association
Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers
Legal Aid Alberta
BRITISH COLUMBIA
ISS of BC – Settlement Orientation Services
Journey Home Community
Legal Aid BC
Migrant Workers Centre
MOSAIC
People’s Law School
Rainbow Refugee
Vancouver Association for Survivors of Torture
MANITOBA
Clark Immigration Law
Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council
CREATIVE PARTNERS
Project Funders
How you can help
You can help refugee claimants be informed, connected, and prepared by improving My Refugee Claim resources.
ARE YOU A PERSON WITH LIVED REFUGEE CLAIMANT EXPERIENCE?
- Tell us what is most helpful, what should change, and what is missing in My Refugee Claim resources. Provide your feedback here.
ARE YOU A SETTLEMENT/COMMUNITY WORKER, LAWYER, OR LEGAL REPRESENTATIVE?
- Tell us what is most helpful, what should change, and what is missing in My Refugee Claim resources. Provide your feedback here.
Based in Vancouver, BC, the Kinbrace community welcomes refugee claimants with wrap-around wellbeing supports including housing, companionship, employment, and public legal education resources. Our vision for each refugee claimant is a world of welcome, a community of belonging, and a life of opportunity.