Thank you to everyone who joined One World Arts and the One World Film Festival for our special, one-night-only screening of the documentary On The Bride’s Side at the ByTowne Cinema in Ottawa on January 28th. We were overjoyed to see so many people come out to experience this inspiring and award-winning documentary and pleased by how many stayed for our very engaging panel discussion with Dr. Rouba Al-Fattal (University of Ottawa), David Pepper (Refugee 613) and Wael Ismaeil (Canadian Syrian Association of Ottawa).
As we mentioned at the end of our discussion, there are a number of ways you can get involved in supporting refugees in Ottawa.
Visit refugee613.ca to learn more about ways you can help and get involved with local organizations that provide services to newcomers, immigrants and refugees. There is also information available through their website about how to sponsor a refugee.
Attend an event that is raising awareness and/or funds in support of refugees. Here are a couple upcoming events in Ottawa that you can attend:
The Rotary Club of Ottawa is having a Cocktail Reception in Aid of Syrian Refugees on February 2nd, 2016 at Ottawa City Hall from 5 to 7PM. Tickets are $60 ($40 for students) and are available for purchase online via Eventbrite. All event proceeds will go to the Rotary Club of Ottawa Syrian Refugee Fund, dedicated to sponsoring Syrian refugee families in Ottawa in collaboration with the Christ Church Cathedral.
The are organizing an event on February 20th to welcome Syrian refugees. Details coming soon.
The Syrian Arab Association of Canada and and the French Catholic School Board in Ottawa (Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est) are holding an event on Saturday, February 20th, 2016 at 6:00PM to welcome Syrian refugees to Ottawa. The event is also aimed at providing information to newcomers about the services that are available to them in the Ottawa area and connecting them with the agencies that provides those services. All are welcome. Admission is $5.00 for the general public and FREE for newcomers. The event will be held at École élémentaire catholique Montfort (350 Den Haag Dr, Ottawa K1K 0W9). For reservations and more information, please contact: Rana Ibrahim 613-762-9717, Garo Bandek 613-324-7070, or Randa Swaiti 613-698-7974.
Cinema Politica will be screening the documentary A Syrian Love Story at the Mayfair Theatre in Ottawa on February 4th at 6:15PM. The director and one of the documentary’s protagonists will be in attendance. Click here for details.
Visit Gallery 101 (51b Young St. Ottawa) on Saturday, February 6th (2PM – 4PM) for a roundtable discussion exploring the question “Should we abolish borders?” Featured speakers include professors Victor Konrad (Carleton University, Geography and Environmental Studies) and Jamie Chai Yun Liew (University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law). The discussion is being held in conjunction with the exhibition There’s Room, Ottawa Artists Respond to the Refugee Crisis. For more information, join the Facebook event here.
Have information about an upcoming event in Ottawa related to supporting refugees that you’d like us to know about? Email us at oneworldfilmfestival@oneworldarts.ca. We’ll do our best to reply to you in a timely way and share relevant information with our networks via Twitter and Facebook. Please keep in mind that we are a volunteer-run organization and it might take us a while to reply, but we appreciate hearing from you!
Stay tuned for more info on upcoming One World Arts events, such as our screening of Invisible City on February 25th at 7PM Club SAW as part of Ottawa’s Black History Month celebrations and Dancing in Jaffa co-presented with Ottawa Family Cinema on March 4th.