Two programs that originated out of Toronto are moving west to help refugees resettle in Vancouver.
Bunz was founded in 2013 in Toronto with a mandate to help save the planet, save money and connect people with their neighbours by offering a money-free exchange platform.
“The Vancouver group only had a couple hundred members when I first joined a year and a half ago or so,” says Katie Johnston, an admin for the Vancouver Bunz Facebook page.
Today, the Facebook group has 6,661 members, trading everthing from furniture and cooking supplies to clothing and jewelry.
On June 5, one Vancouver “Bunzer” sought help for a family of refugees getting settled in their new home.
In exchange for a “thank you,” Juju Milay asked for the following items from Bunzers willing to help the family start a new life in Canada: twin bunk bed, non-stick pots and pans, office chair, dishes, dresser and lampstand, long stand alone lamps.
Within minutes, members of the group came forward to offer those items and then some.
“I am beyond overwhelmed by the generosity!” Milay wrote.
When speaking to the Courier, she confirmed that people’s quick responses and willingness to help were surprising. She’s still searching for a crib, toys for the kids and bunk beds for any one looking to help. Citing the family's privacy, she would not disclose where the family was from.
Milay herself was introduced to Bunz when she moved from Langley to Vancouver last year and recognized that people already wanted to get rid of things, regardless of the cause.
“I hoped that people can pass it along to families who need help.”
Another initiative orginating in Toronto relies on the spoken word rather than social media to assist refugees.
On June 22, a writing workshop turned performance piece meant to share the stories of refugees will premiere at the Museum of Vancouver.
Canadian author Katherine Govier started offering writing workshops to female refugees resettling in Toronto in 2011, as a way to encourage them to maintain their literary passions.
“I had met a number of amazing women who came to this country with a background in writing, librarianship, journalism, television, arts — something that uses language, but their level of English wasn’t high enough and they’d end up working in restaurants,” explains Govier.
Today, The Shoe Project: Walk in Their Shoes is a performance piece with roots in six different Canadian cities. “I wanted the rest of Canada to know what they have to say, what they’re bringing with them,” Govier says.
When looking for a place to meet for the writing workshops, she approached Elizabeth Semmelhack, the senior curator at Toronto’s Bata Shoe Museum. Semmelhack said Govier could use the space every Thursday on one condition: that the workshops contain shoe-themed writing prompts.
“It’s the perfect thing to write about for people who have migrated here from various parts in the world,” says Govier. “'The shoes I wore to Canada, the shoes I dreamed I’d wear when I came to Canada, the shoes I left behind,' etc.”
This June will be the first event in Vancouver, but Govier hopes to have a permanent local presence to add to the six centres that have formed across Canada.
“This started with out much fanfare before the real crisis of immigration and refugee-ism, and now it’s something we do well as a country and I think we should celebrate it.”
