Ottawa Centre Refugee Action is a community-based group of volunteers that sponsors and helps refugees settle in Ottawa, Canada. We have been actively sponsoring and settling refugees and reuniting families torn apart by war or fleeing persecution since December 2015.
To date, we have helped settle 22 families and individuals — 68 people in total, ranging in age from from 75 years to 18 months.
OCRA volunteers help refugees adjust to life in Canada and carry out detailed settlement plans for all sponsored families.
Since our inception, OCRA has raised more than $550,000, all of which has been used to fund refugee settlement or been committed for pending sponsorships. Our operations and administration are carried out entirely by volunteers.
As of mid-2022, we are proceeding with sponsorship applications for an additional 4 families/individuals. These applications await processing by the Canadian government. In addition, we have submitted 4 sponsorship applications to the United Church of Canada which await submission to the Canadian government.
In 2022, we also became involved in sponsoring refugees from Afghanistan.
While we work within the government’s current refugee process, we believe that Canada should have a system for accepting refugees that is more accessible, more efficient and more transparent.