Thunder Bay mosque raises money for Rohingya refugee crisis
Canadian Government will match the money raised by individuals for the Myanmar Crisis Relief Fund
The Thunder Bay Masjid is raising money for the Rohingya refugee crisis.
More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled violence in Myanmar displacing them over the boarder in Bangladesh, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Most of the refugees are women and children.
The mosque is holding a fundraising dinner at the Lakehead University faculty lounge on Nov. 25.
"I think we have to be socially conscious about our decisions and the actions we take," said Jasra Rahmath, an organizer of the event.
Rahmath wanted to raise money for the Rohingya after hearing the Government of Canada will match donations made by individuals to registered Canadian charities from Aug. 25 to Nov. 28. The money will go towards the Myanmar Crisis Relief Fund. The mosque hopes to sell over 80 tickets to the fundraiser. So far they have sold a couple dozen tickets, according to Rahmath.
The Rohingya are a stateless Muslim minority that live in the mostly Buddhist country of Myanmar. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, has called the situation a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing."
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"We do have a responsibility to speak out against any human rights violations and help out in whatever way we can even if it's in the tiniest form," said Rahmath.
The mosque hopes to raise $5,000 from the Thunder Bay community that will be matched by the federal government. The government donated $2.55 million to United Nations agencies dealing with the crisis in September.
The event will include two out of town speakers: Saima Jamal, who recently was in Bangladesh working with Rohingya refugees, and Washim Ahmed, managing partner of OWS Law, who serves as a spokesperson for the Canadian Rohingya Development Initiative.
"Overall the response has been really positive and people have helped in anyway they can," said Rahmath.