At the official request of Canada’s Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr António Guterres visited Canada. While his stay was brief, on March 25th, he took the opportunity to visit the Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat, where he connected with leading civil society organizations and scholars during an intimate afternoon discussion, moderated by AKFC CEO Mr. Khalil Shariff.
The conversation flowed around the state of refugees globally; the plight of refugees in countries not covered in mainstream journalism; the impact of mega-trends such as food insecurity and climate change on refugees and internally displaced persons; and the opportunities to efficiently bridge conversations between academics and practitioners in the field.
Mr. Guterres expressed his interest in seeing more formalized networks around central issues. “We need to have more instruments of international cooperation,” he said. “The openness to migration and refugees is favourable when migrants bring economic growth; attitudes change when they don’t. What are the tipping points that create these changes in attitude and perception? This is what we need to watch for.”
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