Journey to Canada: Stories of Refugees – Canada Reaches Out

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Transcript: “Journey to Canada: Stories of Refugees – Canada Reaches Out”

Video length: 3:55 minutes

Sounds of gunfire.

Announcer: “Imagine waking up to the sound of gun shots.

Video shot of armed soldiers running in a field and shooting their weapons, bombs exploding in the distance, a child crying.

Announcer: It’s dark out and you don’t know where the shots are coming from. Your father runs outside to see what the noise is all about and he’s killed.

People are carrying other wounded people and bombs are exploding in the distance. A young child is crying.

Announcer: In that instant, your life is forever changed. You gather what you can carry and start running for your life”.

Close up of child refugee, refugees gathering in the refugee camp and child refugee running through the camp.

Light music playing.

Animated shot of a spinning silver globe with a waving Canadian flag in the background.

The title: “Journey to Canada. Stories of Refugees” appears.

Main title “Canada reaches out” appears on black background.

 Main video begins. Close up of Nimaale, sitting on his front porch at the refugee camp and telling his story:

“… Originally I am from Somalia”.

Announcer: “Nimaale, a refugee in Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya has seen the worst of it”.

“When the war broke out in Somalia, specifically the civil war, when the government collapsed, people fled. I was among those affected by the civil war and I found myself in Dadaab refugee camp. We fled in fact… but my beloved father was killed”.

Video shot of a refugee family gathered under a tree at the refugee camp.

Announcer: “In parts of the world, this story is commonplace.

Video shot of refugee women distributing bags of food amongst themselves.

Video shot of refugees at a camp in Kenya carrying bags of food, waiting in line for first aid and primary services, walking with their children, etc.

Announcer: Unimaginable atrocities happen and people are forced to flee their homes and countries in search of protection. Many of those lucky to escape with their life will end up in a refugee camp or an urban slum. But while life in a refugee camp may offer some protection, it’s a very hard life.

Video shot of a sign that reads: CARE Kenya. IFO Camp. Food Distribution Centre.

Announcer: Take the Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya, Africa, for example”.

Video shot of a refugee woman sitting beside bags of food and necessities, and of another woman dragging a bag of food while a man helps her out.

Announcer: “You have nothing. You wait for the most basic necessities of life including food”.

Close up of Nimaale speaking:

“… Life is very difficult and harsh in Dadaab in terms of health, food and whatever, for the refugees. In addition to that also, movement is very difficult. Somalis call it a prison open in the sky. You cannot even move beyond you see where we are sitting right now. We are confined. This is a hard life”.

Female Refugee in a camp, sitting alone in the shade of a shrub.

Close up of Adrian Ho, representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, giving the following facts about refugee camps:

Adrian Ho: “The refugee camps are growing at a rather alarming rate. We’ve got about 1,000, give or take, new arrivals coming from Somalia every week, so which makes about 50,000 or 60,000 every year, and the camps are rapidly approaching 300,000 every year. They were designed for about 90,000.”

Man giving orientation lesson in a classroom at the refugee camp, with the Canadian flag and a television in the background.

Announcer: “And Canada is here to help”.

Announcer: “Since World War II, Canada has provided refuge to more than one million people from all over the world. Close up of a sign indicating the location of the course on Canadian Orientation Abroad.

A family sitting in a waiting room, awaiting the orientation course.

Announcer: This includes more than 200,000 refugees who came here thanks to the kindness and generosity of private sponsors”.

People at refugee camp carrying bags of food and loading them unto horse-drawn buggies.

Close up of people sitting in a row, listening attentively during a citizenship ceremony. These same people receive their citizenship certificates and small Canadian flags.

Close up of the announcer at the library with rows of books in the background.

Announcer: “In fact, the Private Sponsorship Program began 30 years ago when faith groups, civic organizations, and individuals from all across Canada opened their homes and hearts to over 32,000 Indochinese boat people”.

Photograph of several Indochinese refugees.

A refugee (man) walking in the street in Canada.

Announcer: “And we are committed to doing more”.

A refugee (man) visiting a cattle farm in Canada.

Announcer: “Canada is increasing the number of refugees we resettle from refugee camps and urban slums abroad by 20%. By working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and private sponsors, Canada will welcome 11% of all refugees resettled from around the world by 2013”.

Close up of a woman working in an immigration office in Canada, consulting a book.

Video shot of a woman refugee walking past a UNHCR tent at a camp, of a man giving an orientation course for immigration to Canada, of refugees listening to the course leader, of a family of refugees being interviewed by the video directors and saying…

“ We leave Soudan because of war “.

Announcer: By increasing the number of refugees we resettle each year, Canada is providing protection to those most in need.

Video shot of refugees carrying bags of food and walking across the refugee camp.

Close up of a child girl refugee playing beside her mother at a refugee camp.

Announcer: “For many, resettlement to Canada is the only hope of a future they have”.

Close up of the announcer.

Announcer: “I should know. I was once a refugee myself.”

“Canada” wordmark.

Video fades to black.

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