UNHCR

Tributes poured in Monday for the victims of a plane crash in Ethiopia, many of whom were humanitarians, environmentalists and aid workers who had dedicated their lives to making the world a better place.

"It's a complex world so people do anything and everything to save themselves," Mario Calla, executive director of the immigrant services agency COSTI, told reporters after Rahaf Mohammed made her last public statement. "Social media may now be a tool for them," he said. "It depends on whether or not it grabs the attention of the right people."

The Canadian representative to the United Nations Refugee Agency is worried about the misleading rhetoric being used by Conservative voices to speak about refugees and asylum seekers — cautioning the government and human rights advocates to "enter into a serious dialogue" to dispel the myths and remain committed to a growing global migration crisis. 

With the future of the Immigration and Refugee Board under review, one thing is certain, the head of the United Nations refugee agency said on Monday, Nov. 6, 2017: it needs to remain independent.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees arrives in Canada this weekend for what his agency had hoped would be a chance to publicly applaud Canada's decision to take in a higher number of refugees next year.

The anti−refugee, anti−immigrant sentiment deployed by politicians is fuelled by fear, and the global challenge is to look at what drives that fear and respond to it, according to the UNHCR.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale must fix Canada's broken immigration detention system without putting human rights up for negotiation in the court of public opinion.

"It drives me crazy because I would have loved to have them in my own house," says one Boston resident, who has raised money and found Canadians to sponsor a Syrian refugee.

App developed by Vancouver's PeaceGeeks and Affinity Bridge gives refugees and aid workers access to information about where to find food, water, medical help, with the click of a button.

"Even if peace was to take place from tonight, the humanitarian needs within Syria would continue for a good time to come."