In early 2021, the McGill University WUSC Local Committee worked hard to do an online referendum campaign for the continuation and increase of their undergraduate student levy. They successfully doubled their levy from $2.00 to $4.00 per student per semester. This allowed their Local Committee to increase the number of SRP students they are able to welcome each year from three to five. 

In 2021, this Local Committee also revised their longstanding Memorandum of Agreement (est. 1986) with the university. After many meetings with the Dean and members of the university’s administration, wherein their co-chairs, executive members, past Local Committee members, and SRP alumni worked together to explain the importance of WUSC and the SRP, they were able to come to agreements to receive more human resource support from the university. In practice, this will include the establishment of a WUSC Advisory Council to help coordinate support between the university and the Local Committee; more direct support from the Dean of Students, including providing academic support to WUSC SRP students; and a part-time paid position at the university dedicated to supporting the SRP at McGill. The Local Committee is hopeful that this additional support will be beneficial in future years as there should be a smoother process from applications process, to finding first-year residences, to helping SRP students get the support they need, and more. This will also allow their Local Committee to focus more on creating a welcoming environment and planning more events for SRP students and Local Committee members! 

Additionally, they were able to organize their resources and commit to welcoming two Afghan SRP students in the fall 2022, with financial support from the university. 

In 2021, the McGill WUSC Local Committee really improved and strengthened their support to the SRP both in quantity and in quality!

On February 23, 2021, University of Toronto Student's Union / New College WUSC Local Committee hosted a free film screening of “Salam Neighbor.” 

This award-winning 2015 documentary about the Syrian refugee crisis was screened to highlight the importance of equity and equality among neighbors and create an open dialogue towards creating more inclusive communities for all of us. 

One of the film’s directors, Chris Temple, participated in the event in an exclusive live Q&A following the film where participants had the opportunity to learn about their experience in the Syrian refugee camp. 

Another guest speaker at this event was Frank Palmay from Lifeline Syria who joined to give insight into the Syrian refugee crisis and share their experience in assisting sponsor groups welcome and resettle Syrian refugees here in Canada since 2015.

Honourable mention: Unversité Laval WUSC Local Committee 

On September 19th, the WUSC Local Committee at Université Laval celebrated 20 years of the Student Refugee Program (SRP) at University Laval in style. Bringing together former and new SRP students, as well as Local Committee members, professors and students, the event gave the Local Committee a chance to shine, reconnect, and take stock of the progress and accomplishments of the Local Committee since its inception. Despite the many health restrictions in place, organizers were able to create a successful and highly rewarding event. A morning of hybrid panels (i.e. with the option of attending online or face-to-face) on migration issues ended with very positive feedback from those who attended. The guest speakers were: Ms. Denise Otis - Head of Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Montreal, Ms. Roxane Caron - Associate Professor of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences - School of Social Work of the Université de Montréal and Ms. Marie-Jeanne Blain - Associate Professor of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences - Department of Anthropology of the Université de Montréal. An afternoon of games, networking activities and alumni testimonials followed with music, laughter and the smell of delicious BBQ. It was also a great way to spread the word about the WUSC Local Committee throughout the community through the curious people who stopped by. 

The Ontario Tech University (OTU) WUSC Local Committee engages with the university community on an ongoing basis through their social media and their monthly newsletters for General Members. Throughout the years, they have been achieving upward momentum on public engagement through social media, particularly on their Instagram page. They currently have over 1400 followers, making Ontario Tech University WUSC Local Committee the most followed club at the university! 

When COVID-19 restrictions caused many events to shift to online platforms, OTU got creative. In place of an in person game night, they hosted a virtual game night, where 45 attendees from the university community entered into a draw for a prize. The theme of this game night was centered around the challenges faced by people impacted by forced migration.  Attendees played a virtual simulation game created by the Brothers Across Borders organization that walked them through the life of a Syrian refugee in Turkey. After the simulation game was played, attendees played a Kahoot quiz game to test their knowledge of displaced peoples, refugees, and stateless people.

The “Let’s Talk About The Hashtag” podcast series has been the most significant ongoing contribution of the Ontario Tech Local Committee since September of 2020. The objective of this podcast is to bring awareness to the context behind current hashtags used on social media sites to highlight contemporary global issues and the work that WUSC does. 

For each podcast episode, a guest speaker with knowledge and a personal connection to the topic being discussed is interviewed. The first podcast episode of 2021 was centered around the theme of the #LebanonExplosion. A survivor of the tragic Lebanon blast that occured in August of 2020 was interviewed about her experience surviving the blast and the programs that WUSC provides to support vulnerable groups in Lebanon, such as women and young refugees. For the most recent special edition episode, with the theme of #SaveSouthSudan, OTU focused on the work that WUSC does in South Sudan and specifically the new Refugee Athlete Stream of the Student Refugee Program. We invited Rose Nathike, a current SRP student who competed in the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, to speak about her experiences as a refugee in Kenya and how the SRP positively impacted her life. On average, they get about 65 listens per episode, with their most popular episode (about the #blackivesmatter hashtag) having 152 listens.

This Local Committee’s creativity and adaptability in reinventing public engagement in a pandemic context is inspiring!