World Refugee Day Media Invitation

TORONTO, June 16, 2016 /CNW/ - On June 20, media are invited to World Refugee Day events held across the country. From Victoria, BC, to Rosthern, SK, to Winnipeg, MB, to Pictou, NS, and places in between, Canadians will gather to show support to the 60 million displaced people worldwide.

Find out about United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) sponsored events in your community here.

In Toronto, media are invited to take part in World Refugee Day activities at an event co-hosted by more than 20 Canadian humanitarian aid organizations.

When: June 20, 2016 from 11:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.

Where: Toronto's Nathan Phillips Square

Canadian rock icon Tom Cochrane will have just returned from a World Vision trip to Lebanon where he met with refugee children and families at a refugee resettlement area. Tom will make a guest appearance at Nathan Phillips Square between 12-2 pm.

Other activities to take part in include:

• A Pailwalker: come and walk in solidarity with the countless women and girls worldwide who walk about 6km a day to get water.
• Visit a Child Friendly Space, often the only places displaced children can go to feel safe and secure and where they can receive psycho-social support so that they can be kids and dream again.
• Take a virtual reality tour and experience what it is like to live in a refugee resettlement area through the eyes of a young Syrian boy.
• Hear refugee stories at a "Human Library".
• Come meet organizations working with refugees in Canada and abroad.

Organized by the UNHCR, the Humanitarian Coalition, Canadian Red Cross, Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture, COSTI Immigrant Services, Sojourn House, Amnesty International, this event brings together more than 20 humanitarian aid agencies, including: Humanitarian Coalition members CARE Canada, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam-Québec, Plan International Canada, Save the Children as well as Canadian Foodgrains Bank, Islamic Relief Canada, World Vision Canada, Canadian Lutheran World Relief, Handicap International, World University Service of Canada, Matthew House, UN World Food Program.

For more information visit www.worldrefugeeday.com, www.unhcr.ca 

SOURCE World Vision Canada

Image with caption: "World Refugee Day Media Invitation (CNW Group/World Vision Canada)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160616_C4654_PHOTO_EN_716057.jpg

Yosé Cormier, Humanitarian Coalition, 613-292-2687, [email protected]; Rana Khan, UNHCR, 416-954-1188, [email protected]; Gisèle Nyembwe, UNHCR, 613-232-0909 ext 225, [email protected]; For interviews with Tom Cochrane: Rachel Schrader, World Vision Canada, 905-565-6200 ext.3250 or 289-208-5418, [email protected]