Multicultural Centre hosting World Refugee Day walk on Thursday
June 17, 2025 at 4:36 AM
The Fort Erie Multicultural Centre offers assistance to newcomers from other parts of the world when they arrive in Canada.
And on Thursday, World Refugee Day will be recognized with a community walk through town to celebrate and raise awareness about everything the centre has worked on for decades.
It will begin at the Fort Erie Multicultural Centre at 50 Jarvis Street at 10:30 a.m. A small break and visit at the Peace Bridge newcomer centre will take place mid-walk, with refreshments, treats and some history of the centre welcoming local refugees.
The walk will conclude at St. Michael’s Church hall at 310 Central Avenue at 1 p.m. where a celebration with lunch and presentations will take place.
Martha Mason has been the organization’s executive director since 2006.
Asked about statistics related to how many newcomers have experienced Fort Erie as their first glimpse of Canada, she was able to provide figures since 2002, which show that 60,200 refugees have come through the Peace Bridge, with 6,800 of them staying in Fort Erie for a period of time.
In an interview with Fort Erie Radio, Mason said the event is an “awareness day,” and that it is meant to share stories about “people that are displaced, how they can overcome that, and how our community and other communities across the country can help them.”
For those that want to park at the church hall in the morning before the walk, there will be a shuttle service from the church hall to Jarvis Street. The shuttle service is sponsored by Regional Limousine and will begin at 10 a.m.
Those who cannot walk are invited to join afterwards at the hall and for those that can walk only a limited distance, they are welcome to join anywhere along the route, reads a news release about the event.
This year’s theme for World Refugee Day is “community as a superpower.”
“It is so fitting as we must all come together to recognize the resiliency of the newcomers in our communities and celebrate the wonderful contributions they make to our society,” says the multicultural centre’s news release.
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About The Author
Kris Dubé
Kris is a veteran journalist who has worked in Niagara for close to 20 years. He is also a lifelong resident of Fort Erie, a place he plans to call home and raise his family for many more years.
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