Ottawa/Toronto – The Government of Canada recognizes the immense challenges faced by those fleeing conflict and is committed to improving access to vital mental health services for vulnerable newcomers. Since 1989, Kids Help Phone has provided free, 24/7, confidential mental health resources to young people across Canada.
KIDS HELP PHONE
1-800-668-6868
Text 686868
On World Refugee Day, the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced a contribution agreement with Kids Help Phone to provide counselling services for Afghan and Ukrainian youth in Dari, Pashto, Ukrainian and Russian. These new services respond to the urgent need faced by youth fleeing conflicts in Afghanistan and Ukraine. The Minister visited the Kids Help Phone office in Toronto where he saw firsthand how funding provided by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is being used to expand phone counselling services to Afghan and Ukrainian youth.
This funding is part of a larger $2 million agreement that will allow Kids Help Phone to gradually expand its professional phone counselling service via interpreters to 100 languages by 2025 and builds on the previous introduction of Arabic and Mandarin interpretation in 2019.
Culturally sensitive, youth-oriented mental health phone counselling is just one of the supports in place for Afghan and Ukrainian families arriving in Canada.
· Kids Help Phone has been providing health services to young people in Canada since 1989.
· IRCC is providing a total of $1,966,143 under the Settlement Program between 2022 and 2025 to help Kids Help Phone expand its services in multiple languages.
· Ukrainians who come to Canada as temporary residents under the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel have been given access to settlement services usually reserved for permanent residents.
· The Government of Canada is working hard to resettle at least 40,000 Afghan nationals as quickly and safely as possible. Canada has now welcomed more than 16,000 Afghan refugees, with more arriving every week.
