Choice of a Lifetime

Hear Jean-Nicolas Beuze, former the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Canada Representative, discuss Operation Syrian Refugees and the UNHCR’s role.

Transcript: Choice of a Lifetime

Video length: 1:49

Light music plays.

An image fades in of refugees going through a gap in a fence. A young boy can be seen scared and crying.

Text appears: Operation Syrian Refugees – Phase 1

The image fades to black and turns into a blurred background.

Text appears: Choice of a Lifetime

Screen fades to black and music stops.

Transition to a man speaking directly to the camera, with flags in the background.

Text appears: Jean-Nicolas Beuze, Former UNHCR Canada Representative

jean-nicolas beuze: Our role was really to help identify Syrian refugees who were willing to come to Canada, but who had also some specific characteristics so that they would be interesting for Canada and able to settle in Canada easily. We were changing the way we were identifying people to come to Canada.

We see a crowded street in Lebanon. In the foreground we see a young boy walking towards the camera. The image cuts back to Jean-Nicolas.

jean-nicolas beuze: Instead of looking at specific vulnerabilities of family members, we were really looking at a way to profile people perhaps with economic difficulties in Lebanon – those who were struggling to survive – but who were also willing to move to Canada. So it was a different way of looking at that refugee population. I remember one family who was … had absolutely no clue of where was Canada…

We see refugees listening to someone speaking with a look of confusion and concern. The image then cuts to 2 children sitting on their parent’s lap, looking beyond the camera with a look of concern. We then see a woman listening to someone speaking. The image cuts back to Jean-Nicolas.

jean-nicolas beuze: So I started to show on my phone a picture of Canada. Of course, I ended up on a picture in the winter, so they were a bit concerned about what that meant. But also, the excitement of these families in particular, of being able to move out of their plastic sheeting tents in the middle of nowhere in Lebanon…

We see a few people walking around UNHCR tents. The image cuts back to Jean-Nicolas.

jean-nicolas beuze: …was really a chance in a lifetime for them and so they were a bit – I remember they were a bit afraid…

We see the inside of a locker room, where the camera focuses on a sign with a coat hanger. Transition to a father waving his daughter’s hand at the camera. The image cuts back to Jean-Nicolas.

jean-nicolas beuze: …but also extremely excited and already preparing the kids for the snow and going to school and everything.

The screen fades to black.

The Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada corporate signature along with the copyright message “Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 2020.” are shown on screen followed by the “Canada” wordmark.