The Refugee Livelihood Lab is a social innovation lab housed within RADIUS at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business.
Our vision is a world where systems enable, rather than limit, the dreams and potentials of displaced and migrant peoples.
Our mission is to facilitate systems change toward migrant justice. We do this by building power with communities through leadership development, convening, and advocacy.
Our principles include centring the leadership of impacted communities; addressing power skillfully; building transformational relationships; growing awareness of Canada’s role in displacement globally, as well as the link between Indigenous sovereignty here and abroad; designing practical initiatives that create the conditions for equity; and co-creating liberating new narratives that challenge social and economic myths about displaced and migrant peoples.
Our goals include enhancing the networks, influence, and transformational leadership capacity of migrant communities; increasing impacted communities’ access to dignified pathways to social and economic capital; and building alignment within the refugee and immigrant services sector toward greater equity.
Our central program, formerly called Beyond Borders, is now a non-credit certificate course called the Migrant Systems Change Leadership Program offered through SFU, Beedie School of Business.
Our advocacy contributions have included support and leadership with the Canadian Experience Barrier Policy Project, the Trained to Save Lives Initiative, and the Refugee Claimant Tuition Pothers.
To receive updates from the Refugee Livelihood Lab, including recruitment notifications, add yourself to the email list here.
The Refugee Livelihood Lab is part of a growing movement supporting deep shifts in the systems which govern our lives towards equity, dignity, and sustainability for all people and the planet.
Today, in a time of heightened attention to racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, gender-based violence, climate change, and more, there is an urgency and commitment to move from innovation that simply improves systems towards disrupting patterns and transforming systems.
Given that one entrenched, systemic pattern facing refugee and newcomer communities is exclusion from decision-making – to disrupt this pattern, we need to be intentional about how we practice innovation, why, and who we support to be at the heart of innovation practice. Without this framework, we risk perpetuating the same problems we are aiming to change.
In the Refugee Livelihood Lab, we center the voices and leadership of communities directly impacted by the issues of forced migration and displacement. We believe this practice in itself creates a new pattern and a new world of possibilities for change. Beyond tokenism, we see the need for community organizing and practical initiatives that create new storylines about refugee and newcomer communities.
Refugee: The Lab uses the UNHCR definition of refugee, which is “someone who has been forced to flee their country because of persecution, war, or violence.” We recognize the complex humanity of people outside their country of origin who are seeking to build a meaningful life regardless of their status.
Livelihood: The means by which people get the necessities for life. This includes economic survival needs and the deeper socio-cultural, ecological and political necessities for the human spirit to thrive.
Lab: A collaborative space for focused learning, discovery and action, focused on systemic change.
The first certificate offered by the Refugee Livelihood Lab serving people who have lived a refugee or immigrant experience and are passionate about working with and supporting these communities. Over several months, the cohort discusses foundational concepts related to equity, racial justice, and decolonization through a collaborative process. Participants apply these lessons by working alongside other leaders with lived experiences to develop, test, and share initiatives that address social, political, or economic issues specific to refugee and immigrant communities.
Applications are currently closed.
Visit the Migrant Systems Change Leadership Certificate webpage for more information.
A free 12-week program for people with an idea for a social venture or non-profit addressing problems refugees and newcomer communities face. People with lived experience of forced migration and displacement or who hold deep networks in these communities are encouraged to apply.
Trampoline emphasizes the importance of learning from the people engaging with your venture. Participants conduct weekly interviews to test their assumptions and shape their product or service offering based on feedback. Communication ‘wise practices’ are developed to reach the population you serve, determine the most appropriate finance methods, and assess the market to confirm demand for your offering. We also examine the project through a “migrant justice” lens – asking about models that support democratic ownership, profit-sharing, and freedom from exploitation.
Applications are currently closed.
Visit the Trampoline webpage for more information.
Racialized migrants are often positioned as recipients of services, and seldom seen or uplifted as leaders and change makers. Through the Participatory Grantmaking Initiative, we are challenging this narrative and are developing a grant by and for racialized migrant communities
The grant will support racialized migrant youth, adults, and elders with intersecting identities across British Columbia who have an innovative idea for a collective, business, non-profit, campaign, or initiative that will address systemic problems and critical needs faced by refugee and migrant communities.
Visit the Participatory Grantmaking webpage for more information.
A Community-Engaged Research Report
RADIUS worked with a team of community-based researchers at Simon Fraser University to publish a report that highlights Internationally Trained Physicians experiences throughout the Canadian medical licensing process.
The Refugee Livelihood Lab is developed in ongoing consultation with community partners, entrepreneurs, and innovators with lived experience as refugees, service providers, policy-makers, and advocates. The Lab responds to the Surrey LIP’s 2017 “Our New Home” Refugee Integration Strategy priorities around economic and social inclusion.
Nada El Masry
Program Manager
Nada El Masry (she/her) is a mom, a Palestinian migrant, community organizer living on the unceded lands of the Tseshaht (č̓išaaḥtḥ) and Hupacasath (Hupač̓asatḥ) First Nations (colonially known as Port Alberni, BC).
Her work grows from the understanding that liberation must be transnational—from occupied Palestine to Indigenous territories across Turtle Island—and is rooted in dismantling the systems that displace and dispossess communities globally.
Nada co-leads the Refugee Livelihood Lab, working with racialized migrants to challenge systemic barriers. Her leadership has been recognized with the BC Anti-Racism Award, Voices of Muslim Women Leadership Award, and Future of Good’s Top 21 Founders to Watch.
Now navigating motherhood alongside her work, Nada finds joy in hikes with friends, political podcasts, and play dates.
Yara Younis
Program Manager
Camille Dumond
Advisor
Camille co-designed the Refugee Livelihood Lab at RADIUS. The lab aims to increase the social, political and economic capital of diverse racialized migrant communities. Camille’s role includes using the lab’s resources to amplify initiatives emerging from communities with lived experience of forced displacement and migration. She also works with an incredible team to surface systemic patterns that cause harm and support new patterns which value the dignity, experiences, skills, and dreams of racialized migrants. She brings 18+ years of experience in community-based facilitation, program design, conflict mediation and healing-centred engagement.
In addition to her work at RADIUS, Camille practices somatic therapy. She has a rich connection to the dreaming world, loves poetry, spontaneous dance parties and her two sisters.
Alia Sunderji
Activator
Alia is a social entrepreneur and lecturer at Simon Fraser University, where she teaches Sustainable Innovation and Introduction to Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Passionate about the fields of sustainability, poverty alleviation and impact investing, Alia is the Founder of Luv The Grub, an emerging social enterprise that operates at a number of levels in the food system by capturing produce seconds that would otherwise go to waste, hires newcomer refugees and immigrants through a paid employment training program and produces delicious chutneys and spreads for the local market. In addition, Alia is also the Co-Founder of Liv & Lola, a fair trade home decor business that works with artisans in rural areas of Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Thailand where employment opportunities are scarce in an effort to lift them, their families and their communities out of poverty.
Jorge Salazar
Activator
Jorge Salazar works as Project Director of the Inner Activist, a project of Tides Canada. The Inner Activist is a leadership education program that is part of a global movement rooted in social justice, equity, self-awareness and our place in nature. Jorge co-founded, in partnership with immigrant and refugee youth and allies, the Fresh Voices Initiative with Vancouver Foundation, where he worked as Project Manager. Fresh Voices gathers a network of more than 200 migrant youth to address systemic issues via policy change in BC. Jorge came to Canada as a refugee from Colombia in late 2000. He uses his own immigration journey, life experiences, and training to bridge communities and facilitate positive change.
Paola Ardiles
Curriculum Contributor
Paola Ardiles BSc (Hons) MHSc MBA is a public health advocate, an educator and a social entrepreneur. Throughout her career, she has led various collaborative and innovative approaches in research, policy and practice, to enable a broader understanding of our collective role in promoting health and well-being for all. Paola came to Canada as a refugee child in the mid-seventies and formed part of the Chilean diaspora who established itself in Toronto during the military dictatorship. Since then, Paola has been driven to create social change by sharing knowledge and creating space for people’s voices to be heard. Today, she serves as a bridge or a “knowledge broker” through her roles as an educator, mentor, advocate, policy analyst, entrepreneur, advisor, facilitator and public speaker. In 2017, Paola was recognized as one of TD Bank’s 10th Most Influential Hispanic Canadians.
Shikhank Sharma
Activator
Simran Purewal
Research Associate
Reyna Villasin
Activator
Thank you to the following people who have contributed their leadership to the lab over the past years:
For more information, please contact Yara Younis, Program Manager at yyounis@radiussfu.com.
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The Refugee Livelihood Lab would like to acknowledge our founding funders for making the Lab possible. The Government of Canada’s Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, The World Education Services Mariam Assefa Fund, Canadian Western Bank, Columbia College, Vancouver Foundation, and The Djavad Mowafaghian Foundation.