How Christie Refugee Welcome Centre Helps Newcomer Families Navigate New Beginnings

Helping Canada Feel Like Home

For families arriving in Canada as refugees, the first few months can be filled with uncertainty as they navigate a new community, secure housing and work to meet their most basic needs. The Christie Refugee Welcome Centre (CRWC) has been supporting refugee claimant families through this transition since 1989, providing a safe place to stay and helping families begin building a life in their new community.

CRWC is a Christian organization that provides safe, temporary housing, initial settlement services and ongoing support for refugee families. It also works to educate and engage the broader public through advocacy and community networks.

Supporting Refugee Families as They Build a New Life

Since opening its doors, CRWC has provided emergency shelter to refugee claimant families from all ethnic, racial and religious backgrounds. Today, approximately 100 families from countries around the world stay at the Christie Refugee Welcome Centre each year, receiving support as they take their first steps toward settling in Canada.

For many of these families, Christmas arrives soon after they have begun their new lives in Canada. As CRWC explains, “The refugee families we served have been living in Canada for only a short period of time.” Holiday Helpers helps bridge that transition by providing families with gifts and essentials while they adjust to life outside of the shelter.

The support goes beyond the excitement of opening presents. Gifts and household items can help families get settled in their new homes, while grocery gift cards can help ease the pressure of covering everyday expenses. Some household items are things families may otherwise “stop themselves from buying because they have more pressing basic needs to cover.”

For parents who are already balancing the costs of starting over, Holiday Helpers can make it possible to give their children a memorable Christmas without adding another financial burden.

Bringing Christmas Joy to Families Starting Over

CRWC has seen the impact of the Holiday Helpers program firsthand. Families who have participated in past years are “always extremely happy and deeply grateful” for the opportunity, with the gifts bringing excitement to children while giving parents some much-needed relief.

The program also provides practical support that continues beyond Christmas morning. Grocery gift cards, for example, can help families cover basic needs such as food, allowing parents to put their limited resources toward other necessities as they establish themselves in their new communities.

For families who have recently arrived in Canada, a Christmas celebration can be about more than gifts. It can offer a sense of welcome, normalcy and joy during a major period of change.

Through its partnership with Holiday Helpers, Christie Refugee Welcome Centre helps families experience that joy while continuing the important work of supporting them as they build new lives in Canada.