Refugee-Immigrant Advisory-Council

at 204 Water Street, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador , A1C 1A9 Canada

1. Language School
2. Charity Organization
3. Non-profit organization

Helping refugees and immigrants since 1983 The Refugee and Immigrant Advisory Council (RIAC) began as an informal network of community organizations and churches, dedicated to advocating for and providing assistance to refugees and immigrants to Newfoundland and Labrador. Since its inception in 1983 as a single desk in the back of a small international store, RIAC has grown into a full office with three full-time staff and an expanding base of passionate volunteers and interns. RIAC has helped hundreds of newcomers to prepare their legal cases, find work and housing, and create homes and businesses in this province. Much of RIAC’s work during its early years was overseen by Donna Jeffrey, a devoted advocate and passionate believer in the rights of refugees. Latter on by 2004 Jose Rivera took over and since the has been a full time volunteer Executive Director, pushing RIAC to grow providing more services to a wider range of refugees and immigrants. RIAC was incorporated in 1997 and became a registered charity on the 1st of January 2003.This allowed RIAC to broaden the scope of the services it provided and the population it served. In 2005, Canada ratified the Safe Third Country Agreement, which stipulates that an individual must claim refugee status at a port of entry. This new law greatly reduced the number of refugees claiming sanctuary in Newfoundland and Labrador and by extension, altered the mandate of the Refugee and Immigrant Advisory Council. While there may be fewer refugees claiming status in our province today, there continue to be refugees and immigrants who come to make Newfoundland and Labrador their home. To respond to this unique situation, RIAC‘s mandate has changed to focus on more advice services, public awareness and education, ensuring through ongoing research and assessments that the changing needs of refugees and immigrants are recognized and addressed. RIAC’s out-reach activities consist of advancing of policy change at different levels of government and institutions, hosting ESL conversation groups, and classes by volunteer teachers, newcomer orientation and immigration counseling, and facilitating the productive participation of our members and newcomer communities in St. John’s and beyond. In its long history of service to the community RIAC has been party to a number of successful collaborations with service providers in different sectors. Some of RIAC’s partners in research and programming have included Eastern Health and various faculties and departments at Memorial University. These include the School of Social Work, The International Student Advising Office, the Faculty of Education, the Harris Centre, the Gateway Program and ACE Memorial. RIAC has also worked in partnership with Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), Literacy Newfoundland & Labrador, Food Security Network (FSN), the provincial Office of Immigration and Multiculturalism (OIM), the North-East Avalon Regional Development Board, The College of the North Atlantic, and other denominational organizations and not-for-profits such as Sharing our Cultures, Friends of India, Seniors Resource Centre, the Multicultural Women Organization (MOWNL), Rabbittown Learners Centre, Rabbittown Community Centre amongst others.

General Info

The Refugee and Immigrant Advisory Council is a charitable organization that assists newcomers to Canada and St. John’s. We don’t try to integrate newcomers, but rather give them the tools they need to participate in the community to the best of their abilities. We also provide information to the general public about the challenges many newcomers face, in order to make our city a more welcoming place that is better-equipped to interact with people from diverse origins and circumstances.

Company Rating

7 Facebook users were in Refugee-Immigrant Advisory-Council. It's a 22 position in Popularity Rating for companies in Non-profit organization category in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

865 FB users likes Refugee-Immigrant Advisory-Council, set it to 30 position in Likes Rating for St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador in Non-profit organization category

Summary

Refugee-Immigrant Advisory-Council is St. John's based place and this enity listed in Language School category. Located at 204 Water Street NL A1C 1A9. Contact phone number of Refugee-Immigrant Advisory-Council: 1 (709) 754-4122