The federal government has joined forces with not-for-profit organization Rainbow Railroad, an organization that helps LGBTQI+ refugees across the globe, endangered because of their gender identity and sexual orientation reach safety.
Rainbow Railroad’s work is supported by a global network of activists and human rights advocates and now alongside the UN, it will act as an official referral partner in the Canadian government’s efforts to welcome refugees.
As an LGBTQI+ referral partner under the Government-Assisted Refugees Program, Rainbow Railroad will harness its well-established rapport with LGBTQI+ communities worldwide in a concerted effort to help them and their loved ones build a life Canada.
“This partnership represents a landmark milestone in Rainbow Railroad’s history” Kimahli Powell, CEO of Rainbow Railroad said in a news release on Thursday. The organization has been working tirelessly for years to “advocate for direct referral partnerships with governments around the world” and Canada has stepped up to the plate as the first country to partner at that capacity.
Rainbow Railroad’s U.S. and Canada-based operation gives voice to the uniquely vulnerable LGBTQI+ community as they face increasingly severe state sanctioned homophobia and transphobia across the globe, and here in North America.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau praised the work of Rainbow Railroad in an impassioned speech to a receptive crowd in Toronto on Thursday where he reiterated why the not-for-profit’s work is essential not only to the queer community but to the wellbeing of society as a whole.
“State sponsored persecution is happening all over the world, Uganda’s anti-homosexuality laws are reversing human rights and it’s because of laws like that that organizations like this are needed more than ever,” he said.
According to Rainbow Railroad’s official website, there are “110 million displaced people around the world – the highest number since the end of the Second World War” and the organization is on track to receive “10,000 requests for help in 2023 from LGBTQI+ people whose lives are in danger”.
For more on Rainbow Railroad’s life saving work click here
