OPINION: Myanmar must face justice
"It is too late to save the dead or undo the damage done to the Rohingya. However, the community of nations can help the survivors and do its best to try to hold the perpetrators to account."
Refugees
LISTEN: Canada strips Aung San Suu Kyi of her honorary citizenship
Senator Ratna Omidvar's interview with Australia's Radio National's Breakfast program on adoption of her motion in the Senate of Canada to revoke the honourary citizenship of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Senate votes unanimously to strip Aung San Suu Kyi’s honorary Canadian citizenship
"History teaches us, when people in power are silent, that silence is tantamount to complicity."
SPEECH: Motion to Revoke the Honourary Citizenship Bestowed to Aung San Suu Kyi
"We need to send a strong signal here in Canada and around the world that if you're an accomplice of a genocide, you are not welcome here. Certainly not as an honorary citizen."
OPINION: On Asylum Seekers, Canada Needs Solutions — Not Semantics
"In the short term, Canada must ensure that Canadians have public confidence in the system. Regardless of the numbers of asylum seekers crossing into Canada, it is essential to demonstrate that our systems work, in ordinary and in extraordinary times."
Working to help refugees – Ratna Omidvar featured by Care Canada
"I know personally how the push of displacement altered my ordinary life forever, and how complex and burdensome the global refugee system can often feel. For that reason, the plight of refugees will always be near and dear to me."
Senators’ Statements: World Refugee Day 2018
" Let’s reflect on which choice has made us stronger, not just nationally but internationally. Let’s focus more on what can and must be done by us as individuals, by us as a nation, and by us as a member of the global world order."
Senate spares impaired immigrant drivers from ‘sledgehammer’ penalty
The Senate has passed a critical amendment to the Impaired Driving Act that would spare permanent residents sentenced to less than six months from being deported.
WATCH: Migration is What You Make It – Senator Ratna Omidvar at the Centre for Global Development
In May 2018, Senator Ratna Omidvar participated in an event at the Center for Global Development in Washington D.C. as it launched the first report of their new Migration, Displacement and Humanitarian Policy Program
WATCH: Canada’s Investment in Newcomer Integration
"If there is one significant takeaway from the work currently underway in the United Kingdom and the ongoing efforts in my country, it is this: public trust in immigration systems are greatly determined by the ability of government to translate and communicate national interest into benefits that can be experienced and shared at the local level."