Rainbow Refugee Association of Nova Scotia

Settlement Support: We provide direct settlement support 1 on 1 support and systems navigation to government assisted refugees privately sponsored refugees and refugee claimants who are LGTBQI+ identified and living in Nova Scotia. This includes assistance with finding housing accessing employment and education navigating the health care and mental health systems building community connections and more. This support is geared towards ensuring that LGBTQI+ newcomers feel safe welcome and included in Nova Scotia and Canada. This is assisted through a group of ~10-30 volunteers who assist with settlement work and supporting connections to local communities. Sponsorship: During this time we had 4 new LGBTQI+ refugees arrive in Canada that were privately sponsored by Rainbow Refugee Association of Nova Scotia. We provided settlement support as listed above to these individuals as well as increased support to assist them with resettling to life in Canada. Education and Awareness: During this time RRANS staff members worked to create a series of materials and assets aimed at providing education and support to three key audiences to improve capacity for supporting LGBTQI+ newcomers. This included creating a set of brochures translated into five languages aimed at providing LGBTQI+ with systems navigation knowledge and education when they arrive in Canada; a toolkit for non-settlement service providers to better support LGBTQI+ newcomers and meet their needs.