The Global Refugee Crisis: Lessons Learned from the Canada-Syria Experience

As social workers and as a community in general we are all impacted by the global refugee crisis. Rarely in history have so many people been displaced both by war, persecution, or economics.

Please join us in welcoming Naomi Alboim as our Distinguished Speaker who will be sharing her experience and expertise in working with refugees in the Canadian context. Professor Alboim is a Distinguished Fellow and Professor at the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University in Canada where she has taught graduate courses on immigration and refugee policy for the past eighteen years. She has written extensively on immigration and refugee policy, and advises the Canadian federal and provincial governments, and NGO’s on a variety of related topics. A more detailed bio can be found below.

This event is open to the public, with limited seating. Registration is required.

For any accommodation requests, please specify when registering or please contact alumni.fifsw@utoronto.ca or 416-978-4437 by Tuesday, March 26th, 2019.

Location

Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Avenue, Toronto, ON M5S 1J5

Talk to be followed by a reception in the Innis Café.

Speaker: Naomi Alboim

Naomi Alboim is a Distinguished Fellow and Professor at the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University in Canada where she has taught graduate courses on immigration and refugee policy for the past eighteen years.

She has written extensively on immigration and refugee policy, and advises the Canadian federal and provincial governments, and NGO’s on a variety of related topics. Ms. Alboim has chaired an inter-governmental committee on immigrant labour market integration for the past fifteen years.

Ms. Alboim is also an active international public policy consultant and has advised governments and NGOs in Italy, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, the Caribbean, Vietnam, Indonesia, Ghana, Kenya, Japan and South Korea.

Previously, Ms. Alboim worked at senior levels in the Canadian federal and Ontario provincial governments for twenty-five years, including eight years as Deputy Minister in three different portfolios. Her areas of responsibility included immigration, human rights, labour market training, workplace standards, culture, as well as women’s, seniors’, disability and indigenous issues.

Naomi is a recipient of Queen Elizabeth II’s Gold and Diamond Jubilee Medals and is a member of the Order of Ontario.