The following article was written by Molly Smyth who recently attended the World University Service of Canada’s International Forum in Montreal, Quebec.
I recently had the opportunity to attend the World University Service of Canada’s International Forum (WUSC) in Montreal. WUSC is a student group on campuses across Canada that sponsors refugees through the Student Refugee Program to come study here in Canada. WUSC Manitoba has been around for over 50 years and we are currently sponsoring six students here at the U of M. Being part of this incredible group led me to attend the International Forum, WUSC’s annual conference, and this year’s theme was 2030 & beyond: Solutions Without Borders.
Being in Montreal, the conference was completely bilingual. Headsets with live interpretations were available for those that could not speak both languages. We started the first day off with inspiring and informational talks on different global issues affecting today’s youth. The first talk I was able to attend was by Wenasa Alararaba, a previously sponsored student, who spoke about her experiences as a refugee and how WUSC affected her life by helping her come to Canada to study. Only 3% of refugees have access to post-secondary education, which is why programs like WUSC’s are becoming more and more important as global forced migration grows each year.
I also attended a talk on human trafficking in Central America, and a discussion session on how to make more sustainable refugee camps. We ended the first day off with a workshop on the actions we can take together to work toward the Sustainable Development Goals. The next two days we learned more about WUSC’s work across the world, and the actions we can take on campus to work towards our goals.
Although I am a business student, I have always had an interest in international development and the empowerment of young people. This conference was a perfect opportunity to learn more about these areas, and about different opportunities to work in the nonprofit sector. My biggest takeaway was how important it is to continue to talk about migration and refugees, as there are still so much racism that exists on campus. We need to continue to fight to help refugees and to create welcoming communities for them to come to.
I am very thankful to the Commerce Student’s Association for supporting my attendance of this conference. I recommend that any students interested in forced migration and supporting refugees should look into attending this conference and into joining WUSC.
More information on the International Forum can be found here:
https://internationalforum.ca/
More information about WUSC can be found here:
https://wusc.ca/