How can I help Afghan Refugees arriving in Canada?

Canadian citizens and residents can help Afghan Refugees arriving in Canada in different ways.

Following the takeover of power by the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Government of Canada made a commitment to welcome up to 40,000 Afghan refugees to Canada through different programs.

As of March 2024, over 49,000 Afghans have arrived in Canada.

Canadian citizens and residents can help Afghan Refugees arriving in Canada in different ways.

Resources to Help Refugees in Ontario

If you’d like to help refugees arriving in Canada, the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society (CCIS) is coordinating volunteers and donations on behalf of Resettlement Assistance Program service providers, who will be welcoming Afghan refugees across Canada.

The CCIS is accepting and distributing financial donations on behalf of the Service Providing Organizations across Canada that are supporting Afghan families’ resettlement. You can direct your donation to a specific organization or region if you want.

You can also contact them by email (contact@afghanresettlement.ca) for volunteering or in-kind donations (housing, clothing and furniture)

If you speak Dari or Pashto, you can contact your local settlement agency to find out which agencies in your area are coordinating support.

You can also reach out to Lifeline Afghanistan, a non-partisan network of individuals and organizations responding in different ways to the crisis in Afghanistan.

Find a Service Provider Organization

For information on how to find settlement services, consult this article from Welcome Ontario: How can I find settlement services?
Afghan Women's Organization, an organization that provides settlement services to all newcomers, with a special focus on women, their families, refugees and people who have experienced war and persecution
Afghan Association of Ontario (AAO), an organization providing settlement, integration and adaptation services to the Afghan community

Resources in Pashto and Dari

Settlement.Org provides a range of resources (including health, housing, employment, education, and much more) in Pashto and Dari. Most of them are in PDF format. Click on the language name to download the document in that language.
Refugee 613 Information for Life in Canada is a national Telegram group dedicated to providing Afghan newcomers with comprehensive and accurate information about life, events, opportunities, and settlement services in Canada, in Dari and Pashto.

Resettlement Programs

You can help Afghan refugees by sponsoring them to come to Canada. There are different ways individuals can sponsor a refugee:

by working with a Sponsorship Agreement Holder (SAH) as a Constituent Group
as a Group of Five

As a Constituent Group or a Group of Five, you can sponsor:

A specific individual refugee or refugee family
A refugee referred by a visa office abroad

For More Information:

Canada’s response to the situation in Afghanistan : information about Canada’s programs for Afghan citizens, especially the special resettlement program.
The Refugee Sponsorship Training Program provides training and support to Canadian refugee sponsorship groups, Sponsorship Agreement Holders and sponsored refugees.
What are the different refugee resettlement programs? - An article from WelcomeOntario
What does the refugee resettlement process look like? - An article from WelcomeOntario
IFHP Extended Coverage Pilot for Counselling Services for Afghan Refugees - An article form WelcomeOntario