Many facts about ILP are shocking to Canadians. Take a picture with a fact that shocks you the most and post it on your social media channel with one or more of the hashtags for our campaign: #WhyDoRefugeesPay, #ReformILP, #LiftTheBurden.

Download the signs here (coming soon) or make your own! If you are a student on one of our campuses, get in touch with your chapter and take pictures together.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to follow the campaign and share our infographics about ILP and refugees in Canada.

At critical points in our campaign, or when something of significance occurs, STAND will send out an Action Alert with recommendations to the government and a call to action for our readers to contact them. We will also be sending out statements and bulletins in response to various events. Make sure you receive the Action Alerts by signing up for our mailing list and encourage others to sign up to make your voices heard!

Utilizing Canada’s new e-petition system, STAND is collecting signatures for an e-petition to the government on the Parliament of Canada website. After receiving sponsorship from Jenny Kwan, the New Democratic Party MP for Vancouver East, our petition to reform Canada’s Refugee Transportation Loan Program is now live and collecting signatures!
Our campaign goal is to reach 500 signatures, at which point the government will be required to respond to the policy recommendations contained in the petition. This is a great opportunity to raise the profile of our campaign and make the reform of Canada’s unfair system of interest-bearing refugee loans a priority for this legislature.
You can read the text of the petition here. Remember, every signature will be crucial in reaching our goal of 500 supporters, so make sure to sign and share the petition widely with your friends, families and campus communities.
Thank you in advance for your support.
Sign the petition here: https://petitions.parl.gc.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-547.

STAND’s advocacy team, based in Ottawa but operating nationally, will be working in overdrive to get in touch with MPs, build partnerships, and start conversations.

You can get involved in three ways:

1) Join our National Advocacy Team

Volunteer with STAND Canada as a member of our advocacy team to participate in and assist with MP meetings, in addition to other advocacy opportunities. Learn more about joining the team. Apply here!

2) Join or Form a Chapter Advocacy Team

Whether you are on a campus with a STAND Chapter or not, STAND will help you assemble an advocacy team and coordinate with your National counterpart to maximize MP engagement. Chapter Advocacy Teams work as satellites for the National team and focus on local outreach and other initiatives according to their capabilities.

If you want to join or form a Chapter Advocacy Team, contact the Chapters Directors at chapters@standcanada.org.

3) Reach Out to Your Local MP with Support

If you are not a STAND volunteer or a student on campus, you can still reach out to your local MP and encourage others to do the same! STAND will help you set up meetings, prepare for the meetings, attend with you (availability and location-permitting), and help you follow up. If you are interested in setting up a meeting with your MP, or are already at a stage of this process, please fill out this form.

In addition to the live events, STAND is reaching out to various partners to hold a series of podcasts related to the ILP, refugees, and the global migration crisis. Speakers will participate in recorded podcasts to be published on STAND’s website and disseminated widely. Each podcast will be between 20-40 minutes and conducted online.

Some examples of potential speakers are (in no particular order):

• Refugees and former refugees;
• Government officials of all levels and their staff;
• Non-profit or professional advocates for refugees and migrants;
• Academics with expertise in the topics (broadly) related to the campaign;
• STAND members with questions or experiences they wish to share;
• Any other ideas you may have.

If you have an idea for an interesting podcast or a speaker in mind, please contact the Communications Team at communications@standcanada.org.

We currently have chapters on the following campuses:

• University of British Columbia
• University of Toronto
• Western University

We are currently working with students to start new chapters or revive old ones. Contact the Chapters Team for more information on current chapters or starting a chapter (chapters@standcanada.org).

Stay tuned for upcoming events related to this campaign.