News

Like so many Syrians, the Al Dakhil family fled their home town because of extreme violence and insecurity. Various bomb threats at their children’s school, the looming danger of gunfire around their home and, finally, a gunshot injury to Mr. Dakhil’s foot, drove them...

The sound of kids having fun:  that’s the first sign for visitors that the playgroup program for refugee children is a hit.  The second sign is the intensity of the play:  whether they are squeezing playdough through tubes, hammering at the kids’ size workbench, or...

CCI’s Community Connections team has begun training sessions for volunteers who will help pilot the new “Circle of Friends” program, which is designed to create support networks for refugees as they settle into their new homes in Ottawa. The trainee volunteers for the...

Why do community members from diverse communities and minority groups hesitate to call the police when they are victims or witnesses of a crime? This was one of the questions explored in an in-depth cultural awareness session at CCI last month by 22 newly recruited...

CCI Volunteer Anas Wess knows what it’s like to have dreams disrupted by the war in Syria. But his message to other Syrian newcomers is:  Canada is a place where you can rebuild your dreams. Anas was in the middle of his fourth year of his medical studies in Aleppo...