Alberta's South Sudanese hold conference on refugee crisis

Alberta is home to the largest South Sudanese diaspora in Canada and many say they're struggling as they watch their home country collapse into civil war.

Members of the South Sudanese community hosted a conference in Calgary Saturday to raise awareness about the humanitarian crisis. 

Tabitha Biel now lives in Edmonton. She came to Canada about five years ago and knows many who are trapped amid violence. She says it's been a struggle to hear of deaths in her family and the suffering of family and friends back home.

"It's such a stressful life here and I don't mean that this is not a wonderful place, but you know, you're here, you're here but part of you is just, hurting, hurting. You feel like you can do something. And that's why we're here today, to really do something, because that's all we can do at this moment."

Conference organizer Gat Bichoik says more than 15,000 South Sudanese live in Alberta and many struggle emotionally and find it difficult to make ends meet while sending money back home.

Organizer Gat Bichoik says more than 15,000 South Sudanese live in Alberta and struggle to support suffering friends and family back home. (Kate Adach/CBC)

"You have five dollars in your bank account," said Bichoik. "You cannot even afford your own meal, but you don't want to say no to your own mother."

More than one million refugees^[1] are seeking shelter outside of South Sudan, with many more displaced within the country. 

Bichoik says during the past three years of civil conflict, the Alberta community raised funds on their own and now he hopes the federal government will step in.

"I'm proud of the initiative Justin Trudeau took in bringing Syrians and so I'm hoping he will not give South Sudanese a cold shoulder."

Joyce Paul, who now lives in Calgary, spoke during the conference about the suffering of women and girls.

"We feel that we in South Sudan have been ignored for some time. So we wanted the Canadian government to really assist us. That's why we're here today," she said.

Organizers say Alberta's Finance Minister Joe Ceci attended the conference, but they did not hear back from federal officials.

References

1. ^{^} one million refugees (www.cbc.ca)