About Us

In 1989, Christie Refugee Welcome Centre (formerly World Vision Reception Centre) was established to welcome some of the 750 government-assisted refugees arriving in Toronto each year. For 10 years, the Centre partnered with Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to provide temporary accommodation, essential services, orientations to life in Canada, and housing services to refugees fleeing war and political upheaval in such countries as Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Colombia.

In 2001, Christie Refugee Welcome Centre (CRWC) entered into a new partnership with the City of Toronto, Hostel Services Division. CRWC now responds to the large number of refugee claimants who are numbered as part of the homeless population in one of the most diverse and multicultural cities in the world.  Each year, the Centre hosts approximately 450 refugee claimants from the more than 30 countries.  In 2011, the top five source countries were Hungary, North Korea, Namibia, Nigeria and Eritrea.  Since our doors first opened, more than 11,000 refugees have called Christie Refugee Welcome Centre their first home in Canada.