By Brianna Parent Long, 杏吧原创 University and Muzna Dureid, Concordia University

Executive Summary

Despite Canada’s recognition as a global leader in refugee resettlement and the introduction of the FIAP under the Trudeau’s administration, we identify a crucial oversight: the insufficient focus on forced displacement within its feminist international assistance framework. In this article, we critically examine Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) in the context of forced displacement, a crisis exacerbated by political turmoil and gender-specific vulnerabilities.

We draw on Canada’s policies before and after the election of Trudeau, highlighting a shift from a more conservative stance under the Harper government to a more progressive yet still inadequate approach under Trudeau, arguing that this gap challenges the integrity of the FIAP’s feminist ethos by overlooking the role of forced displacement in achieving sustainable development, gender equality and peace. We argue that the FIAP’s minimal engagement with displacement issues demonstrates a failure to recognize the political and security dimensions of displacement and its impact on women and girls. A thorough evaluation of Canada’s policy documents, speeches, and public statements reveals a pattern of essentialist and depoliticized treatment of displacement.

This article emphasizes the need for a robust and nuanced policy that incorporates local perspectives, particularly from women peacebuilders and organizations in conflict zones. It argues for the expansion of Canada’s definition of security to include the threats and concerns defined by those directly affected by conflict and displacement and addresses the complex interplay of gender, security, and peace.

View the full LERRN Working Papers Series here:

DOI听

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Citation听

Long, B. P., Dureid, M. (2025). Forced Displacement and Canada鈥檚 Feminist Foreign Policy: What is Missing? Local Engagement Refugee Research Network (LERRN). 听

By Muzna Dureid

In October 2021, leaders from all over the world gathered in Glasgow for , to follow up on their commitments related to the to mitigate global emissions. Canada participated in the conference with Prime Minister Trudeau, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Freeland, and the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Guilbeault. While these efforts try to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, few efforts focus on the impact of climate change on civilians.

For many years, scientists have warned governments about the destructive impact of climate change. For the international refugee system, the impact of the modern climate crisis remains poorly understood. According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, due to disasters. A has estimated that 143 million people will be displaced by 2050 due to climate change in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. The disappearance of cities and islands is another issue that will cause massive displacement due to climate change. According to the World Economic Forum, there are in danger of disappearing. Among them are cities in Europe, Asia, and the United States. Citizens of countries that may disappear completely or almost completely due to rising sea levels will need legal recognition as climate refugees because . The most pressing question is what happens if their countries totally disappear due to climate change.

“Citizens of countries that may disappear completely or almost completely due to rising sea levels will need legal recognition as climate refugees because . The most pressing question is what happens if their countries totally disappear due to climate change.”

In 2010, fled from his country Kiribati, an island country in the Pacific. He applied for asylum based on rising sea level and the disappearance of his country. This scenario seems inevitable because scientists have stressed that .

The dilemma is the lack of legal recognition and adequate remedy for climate refugees. There is no legal category of 鈥渃limate refugee鈥� in international or Canadian law. To date, there is no international agreement for people forcibly displaced because of climate change. The current international refugee system was created after World War II by the United Nations under the legal framework of the 1951 Refugee Convention to protect only refugees fleeing their countries on the basis of political persecution. Climate-related reasons have no basis in international law, in part because the majority of people affected by climate change are displaced internally. However, even if they cross international borders, they are not legally considered refugees under the 1951 Refugee Convention.

Canada鈥檚 Responsibility and Response: Modernizing Immigration Policy

There is a responsibility for Western countries to support climate refugees because of the damage caused by their emissions. Canada is ranked as one of the top polluters in the last century, . Canada鈥檚 emissions per capita are among the worst in the world and most Canadians benefit from the revenue of fossil fuels, as Canada is one of the top five producers of oil and gas. Canada is a wealthy country and has the capacity to respond to climate-related displacement.

“We have passed the turning point of climate change and there is no way to completely prevent climate-related displacement.”

In 2019, The Canadian parliament declared a that acknowledges the gravity of climate change. Despite this progress, the status quo remains in place, and we are missing the opportunity to manage this crisis before it gets worse. The progress of the Canadian government in joining international climate actions such as the to mitigate Canada鈥檚 emissions may lead people to believe that the resettlement of climate refugees is unnecessary, because emissions reductions will reduce displacement. This perspective fails to take into account that we have passed the turning point of climate change and there is no way to completely prevent climate-related displacement. As a result, we have one option, which is to act adequately and promptly to save the lives of those who have already been displaced and who will become displaced.

“The progress of the Canadian government in joining international climate actions such as the to mitigate Canada鈥檚 emissions may lead people to believe that the resettlement of climate refugees is unnecessary, because emissions reductions will reduce displacement. This perspective fails to take into account that we have passed the turning point of climate change and there is no way to completely prevent climate-related displacement.”

Canada has hosted and resettled many refugees over the years, and it can respond to climate-related displacement through its immigration policy. In the to Canada鈥檚 Parliament, the Government committed to 鈥減rovide help for people displaced by climate-related disasters.鈥� In the past, Canada has positively responded to natural disasters through adjustments to immigration policy. Following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Canada who were unable to return to Haiti because of the destruction related to the earthquake.

The absence of an international legal framework that addresses environmental displacement should not prevent the possibility of developing specific national policies based on our domestic law to protect those who are forced to move because of climate听change. In 2018,听Canada joined 167 countries that signed the which stressed that Member States need to develop comprehensive solutions for people displaced because of climate change. Although the UN鈥檚 global compact is听not legally binding, it offers strong ground to improve Canada鈥檚 immigration policies. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has and frameworks related to displacement, disaster management, and regular migration. Canada could follow the example of the Kampala Convention (the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons) that was adopted by the African Union 2009 as binding normative standards. This Convention has codified and institutionalized the subject of climate displacement in great detail. It offers a legal ground to recognize the fundamental human rights of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and to protect persons displaced by natural disasters and climate degradation. The Kampala Convention for the Member States of the African Union and offers important implications for climate cases.

In order to craft a new immigration policy to address climate displacement, Canada should adopt the following three principles:

First, it should acknowledge climate-related displacement as a threatening crisis.

Second, it should establish a safe and legal complementary pathway for climate refugees to be resettled in Canada.

Third, it should engage Canadian society in sponsoring climate refugees through the existing Canadian private sponsorship program.

Based on a , the optimal solution for the sake of both climate refugees and the Canadian government will be using Canada鈥檚 Private Sponsorship of Refugees (PSR) program, because it is much easier to amend an existing domestic law than to create a new one. Implementing this option would require amendment of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (2001) and its related Regulations to redefine refugee eligibility. Expanding refugee eligibility will allow climate refugees to be legally considered for sponsorship in Canada. From a public policy perspective, there are also other possible measures that could be taken to ensure legal migration for these displaced people, such as a climate visa. Overall, Canada has the responsibility, the capacity, and the policy tools to respond to climate displacement.

Muzna Dureid, LERRN Partner, Syrian refugee and Liaison Officer with the White Helmets, explains in her interview with La Press the concerns surrounding the normalization of relations with Damascus and the return of Syrian refugees. (Article in French)

Event details and recordings available here.

On 24 June 2021, LERRN and the hosted their seventh and final webinar in the LERRN-IDRC webinar series on Forced Displacement. This webinar, drawing on lessons from Bangladesh, Syria, and the West Bank and Gaza, focused on health systems and the COVID-19 response. Panellists Sabina Rashid, 听Weeam Hammoudeh, and Muzna Dureid, and co-moderators James Milner and Montasser Kamal examined what the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic reveals about how health systems respond to the needs of the forcibly displaced and how localized actors and approaches can improve access and health outcomes for refugees, IDPs, and other forcibly displaced people.

Sabina Rashid, Dean and Professor at the BRAC School of Public Health, argued that the overly clinical response to COVID-19 in Bangladesh 鈥� orchestrated primarily by public authorities鈥� served to further marginalize the country鈥檚 refugee community. Like other jurisdictions, the public response to the pandemic involved widespread lockdowns, hospital closures, reduced services, and public health campaigns to promote social distancing, quarantine, and other sanitation measures. While these measures might be appropriate in some contexts or with certain groups, Rashid emphasized that they are not necessarily appropriate for the 800,000 mostly Rohingya refugees in the country. A key issue is the unique socio-linguistic particularities of the refugee community. Many refugees, for example, do not read or speak Bengali, which limits the flow of information about service provision and public health measures. Rashid argued that such oversight could be remedied by utilizing existing refugee networks and channels 鈥� including the refugee doctors and medical personnel that many in the community prefer.

Rashid also highlighted how the COVID-19 response ignored the material conditions of refugees. Most refugees in Bangladesh live in crowded camps. Kutupalong, for example, has almost 600,000 residents and is now the world鈥檚 largest refugee camp. In this context, measures like social distancing, quarantine, and other sanitation measures make little sense and create an unattainable standard for refugees. Weeam Hammoudeh, Assistant Professor in the Institute of Community and Public Health at Birzeit University, highlighted similar issues in the West Bank and Gaza. While only 10-15% of Palestinian refugees in these areas live in camps, many still reside in crowded conditions where social-distancing and other public health measures are difficult to achieve. Hammoudeh also underscored the economic effects of the lockdown. In regions characterized by widespread poverty, the inability to work placed additional pressure on refugee households.

Despite the limitations of the COVID-19 response, panellists were in agreement that the emergency has had some positive impacts on health services, particularly in terms of improving the participation of the displaced and the localization service delivery. Across these unique contexts, lockdowns, closures, and travel restrictions combined to create more space for displaced communities to mobilize and take a greater role in service provision. Muzna Dureid, Liaison Officer with , detailed how the role of her organization in northwest Syria has evolved since the beginning of the pandemic. In a region where public services and infrastructure has been devastated by a decade of conflict, COVID-19 has added another layer of complexity. In response to the pandemic, the White Helmets, a volunteer-based organization well-known for its heroic medical evacuations, have mobilized to support communities and the health sector by collecting and disposing of personal protective equipment (PPE), disinfecting schools, hospitals, and residences, conducting awareness campaigns, providing burial services, and through the production and distribution of oxygen. Since the pandemic began, the White Helmets have strengthened partnerships with donors and other international actors who are eager to maintain connections in the region. And most recently, they have received funding from to increase their production and distribution of PPE, including face shields, surgical gowns, and other disposables to households and medical facilities. In the West Bank and Gaza, Weeam Hammoudeh identified a similar trend. She suggested that COVID-19 seemed to create a spark among Palestinian refugees who have since mobilized to deliver medicines and other essentials to people in need, organize checkpoints, and offer other critical services.

Challenging the overemphasis of concepts such as 鈥榬esilience鈥� that are used to describe the capabilities of individuals and local systems to adapt to ever-changing global political-economic conditions without thoroughly engaging in the structural factors that induce and sustain these realities, panellists turned to what lessons can be learned to improve access and health outcomes for refugees, IDPs and other forcibly displaced people.

First, panellists stressed that the participation and inclusion of the forcibly displaced must be the starting point. This is not only because these communities have capabilities and knowledge that is critical to designing effective interventions, but also a question of respecting the dignity and autonomy of the displaced.

A second related point, however, is that the diversity of perspectives must be recognized. As Hammoudeh emphasized, in Palestine, there are of course men, women, the elderly, and people with disabilities, but there are also multi-generational refugees, newer refugees, individuals in camps, rural and urban areas, as well as people living in active conflict zones – all of these perspectives are valuable and must be heard.

Third, panellists suggested that donors and other international actors should commit to sustained engagement with displaced communities and their organizations. The White Helmets are just one example of a local/national organization that has been able to evolve in light of growing donor relationships, but as Dureid argued, increased investment can create vibrant networks of grassroots actors who are able to identify and act upon their own priorities. This point echoed arguments made during the December 2020 LERRN-IDRC webinar on refugee leadership.

Perhaps the most important lesson, however, is that a narrow focus on health (or any single sector) risks the broader systemic issues that impact the well-being of those affected by forced displacement. Even the world鈥檚 best health system cannot protect individuals from violence, poverty, or marginalization.

These points underscore the importance of solidarity, participation, and human rights-based approaches in preventing and responding to forced displacement. Points that echo Barbara Harrell-Bond reflections in her foundational book, Imposing Aid (1986), more than three decades ago. Critiquing what the scholar referred to as 鈥渄iscriminatory ideologies,鈥� Harrell-Bond research on the South Sudanese refugee crisis in northern Uganda showed how the attitudes and practices of international humanitarian actors resulted in top-down responses that were not only expensive, ineffective, and wasteful, but also undermined the role and creative energies of host and refugee communities. The scholar challenged the idea that international actors possessed universal knowledge and techniques that applied to every context and advocated for more participatory approaches to aid delivery that relied upon the expertise and knowledge of host and refugee communities. In her view, this was not only a practical way to improve service delivery, but a matter of accountability, solidarity, and human rights.

Bangladesh, Syria, West Bank, and Gaza are much different than the northern Uganda of the 1980s, but as panellists highlighted, COVID-19 revealed the pervasiveness of anti-participatory approaches to forced displacement responses.

The solution might not be straightforward, but as Montasser Kamal, Program Leader for Health Research Partnerships at IDRC, emphasized, 鈥淲e should resist the urge to run to quick pre-packaged fits-all fixes.鈥� Rather, Kamal concluded, the focus should be on establishing trusted relationships between affected populations and decision-makers, strengthening the role of research in understanding differential needs to support more inclusive and gender-equal responses and recovery, and supporting countries and communities to find their own contextually-informed pathways to solutions.

This report was prepared by Tyler Foley, PhD Student, 杏吧原创 University.

The LERRN-IDRC Webinar Series on Forced Displacement is coordinated by Jennifer Kandjii, LERRN Research Officer. For further information or ideas please contact us here.

In 2011, Muzna and her family fled their home country Syria because, as participants in the revolution they had been targeted by the government regime. They crossed into Turkey where as refugees they had very few rights, and were unsure about their future prospects.听

These hardships did not stop Muzna from advocating for women鈥檚 rights. While in Turkey, Muzna founded Women Refugees, Not Captives, a campaign that works to end child marriage in refuge camps. She was also active in peace building activities in Istanbul, and gained experience working with the on projects relating to protection such as Mines risk education and sexual and gender-based violence.

Due to her activism while in Turkey, Muzna was nominated as a Laureate of the Sister to Sister Mentorship program which brought her to an event in Ottawa, Canada. She then applied for asylum in Ottawa and was granted residency in 2018.听

Muzna continues to make a difference in the lives of women and girls. In 2017, Muzna helped to found the Syrian Women鈥檚 Political Movement in Paris and sits on the organization鈥檚 board. This movement works to empower Syrian women to participate in peace talks, and to bring new women candidates and perspectives to the political arena. She was also a member of the Women Deliver Young Leaders group of 2018-2019.

Muzna has been widely recognized for her efforts. She is a winner of the Canadian Excellence in global Women and Children鈥檚 Health in the youth category in 2019, a recipient of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers annual award for outstanding Advocacy on behalf of the human rights of Refugees and was nominated to the finalist list of 75 top Canadian immigrants in Canada.

Watch this video to learn more about Muzna and her work:

Mustafa, a Syrian refugee, a co-founder of Jumpstart Refugee Talent and a member of the LERRN advisory committee shared his experiences at the GRF. He was joined by Muzna Duried who is also a Syrian refugee, a government liaison officer with the Syrian White Helmets and a member of the LERRN advisory committee. Muzna reflected on her experience as part of the Global Refugee-led Network Delegation November 2019.

The discussion proved to be very insightful, with questions of representation, accountability, and access steering the conversation. Both Muzna and Mustafa emphasized the need for multiple avenues of refugee participation in global decision making, and that participation must include a diversity of perspectives.

The key message was that refugees in both resettlement countries and in the Global South must have their voices heard. One such approach would follow the Canadian example and include refugee representatives on state delegations, and continue to ensure that refugee-led delegations have an equal seat in high level forums. However, scaling up this approach to a global level will continue to be challenging as refugees face considerable barriers to participation.

This dialogue is a reminder that while change may be slow, it is happening. LERRN will continue to facilitate these on going discussions, and identify avenues where we can support the participation of refugees in all stages of the research and policy process.

To view the full discussion

Event this Thursday

To further learn about next steps after the Forum, join our roundtable discussion on Thursday Jan 30. We will share insights from the Global Refugee Forum and ideas on how to support refugee participation in all aspects of refugee research, policy and practice.

Speakers will include Mustafa Alio, a refugee advisor, was included as a formal member of the Canadian delegation, as well as Muzna Dureid, Syrian Refugee and Founder of Women Refugees Not Captives.

The event is free; and check out more details in the poster below.

Time: 3:00 p.m 鈥� 4:30 p.m.

Location: A 631 LOEB building

杏吧原创 University

History was made by Canada at the UN鈥檚 Global Refugee Forum in Geneva in December 2019 when it included a refugee advisor, Mustafa Alio, as a formal member of the Canadian delegation. This event will share insights from that experience and ideas on where global efforts on promoting and supporting refugee participation in all aspects of refugee research, policy and practice.

Mustafa Alio shown with Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino at the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva in December.

Speakers:

Muzna Dureid,听Syrian Refugee and Founder of Women Refugees Not Captives

Mustafa Alio,听Refugee Advisor to the Delegation of Canada, 2019 Global Refugee Forum, Managing & Development Director/ Co-Founder, Jumpstart 鈥� Refugee Talent

Free event; register via

The resolution of displacement and the conflicts that force refugees from their homes is often explained as a top-down process led and controlled by governments and international organizations. This book takes a different approach. Through contributions from scholars working in politics, anthropology, law, sociology and philosophy, and a wide range of case studies, it explores the diverse ways in which refugees themselves interpret, create and pursue solutions to their plight.

Special thanks to the panelists:

• Prof. Megan Bradley 鈥� Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Institute for the Study of International Development, McGill University
• Mustafa Alio 鈥� Managing Director/ Co-Founder, Network for Refugee Voices; Managing & Development Director/ Co-Founder, Jumpstart 鈥� Refugee Talent
• Muzna Dureid 鈥� Syrian Refugee and Founder of Women Refugees Not Captives
• Prof. Christina Clark-Kazak 鈥� Associate Professor, School of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa
• Prof.听James听Milner 鈥� Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, 杏吧原创 University

Your contributions are helping make refugees active partners in research and practice.

to view Refugees鈥� Roles in Resolving Displacement and Building Peace on the Georgetown University Press website.