Canada Day & Reconciliation

Read Majed El Shafie’s reflection on residential schools, the Catholic Church, and celebrating Canada Day this year.

Happy Canada Day! As a refugee lucky to now call Canada home and be welcomed as a Canadian, this day will always be special for me. So I wanted to start by wishing you all the best and hope you’re able to enjoy and mark occasion with loved ones.

But I must address what we are seeing in the news. A series of arsons attacks has destroyed several Catholic Churches across the country. This morning I woke to see the news of another one in Edmonton. Many believe they are in direct response to the discovery of hundreds of grave sites at “residential schools” where children were forcibly removed from their homes and never returned to their family.

Two things I want to discuss with you:

1. Residential Schools & Reconciliation 

2. Forgiveness and the Catholic Church 

First, the history of residential schools is tragic. It is the darkest chapter in Canada’s history. Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized in the House of Commons in 2008 to the former students of residential schools and detailed the horrendous conditions the Canadian governments of the past subjected these children to. You can watch his moving speech here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQjnbK6d3oQ

With news of the hundreds of graves shocking Canadians in recent weeks, many are not sure how to cope and are asking questions about Canada’s past. It is truly shocking to think that kids were forced from their homes and left to die at school due to abuse and neglect. Kids are not supposed to die at school, let alone be buried next to the playground. Yet that is the history Canada is confronting.

When celebrating Canada Day this year, don’t be shy to think of residential schools and all of Canada’s history. Learn from it, celebrate our accomplishments, and renew your commitment to make Canada and even better place. And have compassion for those who are feeling raw anguish. Support them. It’s a very Canadian thing to do.

Second, my Christian faith has taught me the power of forgiveness. Revenge and destruction of churches today does not “fix” the dark history of residential schools. The Catholic Church played in a leading role in running residential schools and many people in positions of authority. Those committing arson of churches today must be brought to justice. 

I believe reconciliation in Canada is possible with forgiveness. While survivors of these horrendous institutions can on their own forgive Canada and those who committed these atrocities in our country’s name, the Catholic Church can do more by apologizing. The Catholic Church can say sorry to the survivors and their families for the role its institutions and leaders of the day had in carrying out the atrocities at these schools.

It is with empathy and forgiveness that we can achieve reconciliation in Canada. And we can teach today’s children about this history so they know what took place and it is not forgotten. They too can commit to standing up for human rights, freedom of religion, and being a voice for the voiceless. Learning from our history will make us all better Canadians. And it will better enable us to help those who are persecuted around the world.

Happy Canada Day and God Bless.

-Majed El Shafie, President & Founder, OFWI.org

OFWI Global Snapshot - June 2021

WATCH: OFWI Global Snapshot - June 2021

Join Majed El Shafie on OFWI’s YouTube Channel to watch the OFWI Global Snapshot for June 2021.

This month, Majed reflects on the challenges operating as a human rights organization throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and how grateful everyone at OFWI is for your support and being part of the OFWI family.

His updates on operations includes:

• Uyghur concentration camp survivors testify to U.S. State Dept

• OFWI's humanitarian efforts in Armenia & Karabakh

• Relief & aid efforts to Yazidi refugees in Iraq & Syria

You can watch the full video below, but be sure to Subscribe on YouTube so you never miss an OFWI video.

Heartwarming Homecoming

Adiba guides members of OFWI’s Iraq chapter, coordinating relief efforts supporting Yazidis in a refugee camp.

ISIS Genocide Survivor Returns to Iraq to Support Yazidi Community

We wanted to share a heartwarming story with you. Before we do, we want to provide context for those who may not have followed the plight of Yazidis at the hands of ISIS closely.

For those unfamiliar, in the summer of 2014, ISIS stormed Mount Sinjar and began a genocidal campaign against the Yazidi people in their ancestral homeland located in Northern Iraq. For the past seven years One Free World International has been there for the Yazidi people. It's been a struggle that OFWI supporters have made possible, overcoming tremendous challenges.

The death and destruction ISIS inflicted was savage. The enslavement of Yazidi women and young girls was inhumane. The indiscriminate murder of men and older Yazidis was callous. For a harrowing overview, revisit this National Post feature written by veteran reporter Adrian Humphreys: When ISIL came to town: Yazidis tell of child murders and 'meat markets' for sex slaves.

Working with Kurdish tribes in Iraq and Syria, and with the support of your donations and spreading the word to build awareness, OFWI has helped rescued 648 women, girls and their children from ISIS sex slavery and the human smuggling networks that persisted after the defeat of ISIS.

Our last rescue mission over the 2020 Christmas holidays saved six people from a life of slavery and reunited them with surviving family members or community members in refugee camps populated by Yazidis who survived the genocide.

One of the families OFWI has worked closely with was able to resettle to Canada as refugees. Adiba, her two sisters, and nieces and nephews resettled in Richmond Hill. CTV National News did a feature report on Adiba and her family: Raped, beaten and tortured: Former ISIS sex slave on her journey to new life in Canada

In the winter of 2016, after three months as servant and sex slave to an ISIS fighter named Amin, she caught a break.

It was just after lunchtime and Adiba was cleaning while her captor and his family were in another room. She seized on the chance to escape, despite the risk.

“I didn’t care if I got caught. I didn’t care if I lived or if I died,” she recounted.

An hour later, she ran into a local man who was standing outside his home, and begged him for help.

Abu Muhammed, a married family man, agreed to help Adiba. Instead, he took her to an empty house, where he raped her over the course of about a month.

And then he offered her a deal: he would sell her back to her father for US$15,000.

Adiba arranged a phone call between her captor and her father, who managed to raise the money with the help of family, friends and neighbours.

The mental anguish and scars have been severe. With the support of family, OFWI, and new community in Richmond Hill over the past five years, Adiba and her family’s condition continues to improve. Her niece Dilveen, the main subject of this CBC Short Docs, continues to grow while attending high school in Richmond Hill, Canada.

While some of her family were fortunate to join her Canada, many relatives including her parents remained in Iraq. For five years she has received daily updates. Sometimes it has been jubilation, learning of friends or neighbours who survived and found their way to a refugee camp. Other times, sorrow, news of a death, recent or confirmed victims of the ISIS genocide.

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit Iraq and refugee camps the same as western countries. The difference being they do not have the health system capacity to test, track and treat patients as we do in Canada or the United States. Moved by this struggle, Adiba felt compelled to return to support her community and we are proud to share she has done just that.

Adiba has temporally returned to Iraq. For the past three months she has led an OFWI chapter providing public health best-practices education, PPE, and other humanitarian relief resources to support Yazidis and other religious minorities in refugee camps of Northern Iraq.

We are so proud of Adiba’s courage and drive to support her homeland community in Northern Iraq. It is a legacy OFWI supporters can be proud, not only helping to save lives in a crisis, but investing in recovery so people can help a community regain its footing and thrive once again in the future.

Thank you to all the One Free World International donors and supporters who have been there to make OFWI’s work possible. Thank you to the journalists and media who have covered the plight of Yazidis to bring attention their struggles to help build awareness and mobilize resources so they can rebuild.

In a world bombarded by threats and negative news these days, we hope this story gives you hope and reminds you of what is possible if we come together to address challenges together.