Canadian newcomers gather in Fredericton to commemorate World Refugee Day

The Multicultural Association of Fredericton hosted an event Tuesday to commemorate World Refugee Day.

Members of the public and newcomers to Canada came together in Fredericton to share in a panel discussion of refugees and sponsors who shared their stories of fleeing their countries of origin and coming to Canada.

Mohamed Cisse took part in the panel and told attendees he fled Senegal and spent 10 years in a refugee camp in Gambia.

He said he came to Fredericton in May and feels safer in Canada.

“I feel very good. I am able to sleep now. Before I was not sleeping good,” Cisse said.

Cisse said his two eldest children are missing and he hasn’t seen them since he fled more than nine years ago.

“The only problem in me now is for my two missing children,” Cisse said.

Multicultural Association of Fredericton settlement worker Marisa Rojas said it’s an important day to reflect and remember how many people around the world face horrible and painful conditions because of war.

According to Rojas, Fredericton has welcomed 896 refugees from more than a dozen countries over the last four years.

In a news release from New Brunswick Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour Minister Donald Arseneault, the day is an opportunity to recognize the “courage and perseverance shown by refugees in overcoming many challenges to rebuild their lives.”

“Since December 2015, New Brunswick’s Refugee Assistance Program centres, immigration-serving agencies, municipalities, sponsorship groups and volunteers have worked to resettle over 1,700 Syrian newcomers to their communities,” said Arseneault in the release.

Arseneault said World Refugee Day was created by the United Nations in 2000.