The Refugee Centre’s sister organization DevBloc is a social innovation catalyst that could help you start your own business.
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The proposed mission of the social innovation catalyst is to stimulate the establishment and growth of technology-based start-up companies and other compatible businesses in relation to social enterprise and community building.
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By fulfilling this mission, the incubator would contribute to job creation, enhance equality of life, and attempt to merge the tech world with the non-profit sector.

Fulfilling integration can be influenced by economic stability, neighborhood, and physical environment as well as access to education and health care systems. These factors are often barriers for newcomers and marginalized communities. The Innovation Institute is a group of industry professionals who work to bridge this gap and optimize the success of these individuals through increased opportunities. Their mission is to empower individuals through community, education, and innovation.

The Refugee Centre presents Point of Entry, a podcast that explores the experiences and challenges faced by many newcomers at various stages in their journey. Transcending borders, this podcast offers an exclusive into the voices behind the numbers and the policies behind the actions. Travel alongside The Refugee Centre as our alternating hosts and guests discuss resettlement in Canada and the inner workings of grassroots organizations.

The Refugee Centre is proud to announce the launch of AlloCanada, in collaboration with the Canadian Red Cross and DevBloc!

AlloCanada is an online platform that centralizes services that newcomers often need to access throughout their settlement and integration journeys. It contains resources found in seven of Canada’s major cities: Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.

At The Refugee Centre, we recognize that finding proper resources as a newcomer and navigating a new community can be difficult and overwhelming. As everything moved online due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it created additional barriers for these individuals, who are already facing so many challenges. AlloCanada creates a connection between them and the resources they need to continue on their journey.

There are many ways to explore on AlloCanada, including an interactive chatbot, a map displaying available resources near you and the option to make an account and bookmark services for future reference. It also lets individuals filter resources based on their status, location and gender and it is available in four different languages: English, French, Arabic & Spanish! Overall, AlloCanada is an essential tool for newcomers to Canada.

If you are an organization that offers services available to newcomers, click here to add your organization to AlloCanada!

Hosted by The Refugee Centre, Hijrah Crítica is a new online venue that provides space for critical commentary, research, art, and testimonials on the experience of migration in the Canadian context. As a multimedia curator, Hijrah Crítica accepts submissions employing diverse forms of communication – from written text, podcast episodes, films, and photographs. Most importantly, it casts a wide net for contributors, driven by inclusion and actively encouraging submissions by newcomers, practitioners, and scholars.

LUNA AI is an artificial intelligence application that will leverage its conversational abilities through an interactive platform with incoming refugee claimants. The claimants will talk to LUNA, and LUNA will control the conversation in order to extract all of the information needed from the claimant. It then automatically fills out all of the applications and documentation needed to successfully claim refugee status in Canada, ensuring the claimants are doing everything correctly based on rules of the Canadian Immigration System. This saves the government days’ worth in processing times, and a vast amount of resources in management.