A brief history of WUS Canada

While considerable sums of money were raised in Canada to support WUS International’s early initiatives in the 1920s and 1930s, the first official local committee of World University Service (then called International Student Services) in Canada formed at the University of Toronto in 1939 by a group of students and professors. Throughout the following decade, additional committees formed on dozens of university campuses across the country.

By 1957, World University Service of Canada was incorporated, becoming one of Canada’s first nongovernmental, non-profit organizations working in the field of global development.

Early activities in Canada, many of which continue today, focused on raising awareness and funds for, initially, WUS International’s Program of Action and, later, WUSC’s own global development initiatives. This included the “Caravan”, an international craft sale that travelled across the country, and the “International Seminar”.

The first International Seminar was spearheaded by WUSC and held in Ploen, Germany in 1948. It has since been held in over 40 countries, providing opportunities for students around the world to collaborate on research for global development while expanding their cross-cultural understanding and appreciation. Also, during this time, WUSC and its network of local committees supported students from Europe’s war-devastated countries who had received International Student Services’ scholarships to study in Canadian universities. The network undertook significant mobilization in the mid-1950s to support Hungarian and Czechoslovakian refugee students who were resettled to Canada, and again in the 1960s and 1970s to support many refugee students to resettle in Canada from countries across Africa.

In the 1970s, WUS Canada quickened its evolution into an independent global development and refugee resettlement organization. It engaged university campuses across the country to discuss Canada’s role in international development. Soon after, the organization began to lead its own initiatives, sometimes in partnership with WUS International.

Notable events in 1970s

Three notable events took place in the 1970s that helped shape the course of the organization and its focus on global development, refugee resettlement, and international volunteering, all of which continue today.

In 1974, WUSC assumed responsibility in Canada for recruiting for the United Nations Volunteers program, placing its first volunteer in the Jamaican educational system as an audio-visual specialist. The organization continued to engage Canadians as international volunteers in the decades that followed through several other programs, sending the first group of WUSC volunteers – all of whom were teachers – to the Comoros Islands in 1977 at the request of the Comoros Islands government.

In 1975, WUSC began the implementation of one of the country’s first bilateral development projects, a rural water project in Swaziland. The organization continued to partner with the Government of Canada and other development funders in the years that followed, implementing several projects that addressed global issues related to education and training, water and sanitation, and health in countries such as Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Malawi, Nepal, Ivory Coast, Peru, Sri Lanka, and Tunisia.

In 1978, Canada created its unique Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program which enables Canadian individuals and organizations to resettle refugees to Canada through community-based sponsorship. In its first year, WUSC became an official Sponsorship Agreement Holder, formalizing its support to displaced students through the creation of its long-standing Student Refugee Program. The first student supported through the program arrived in Canada to study at Carleton University later that year.

While primarily a development-focused organization, WUSC did also respond to humanitarian crises in countries and contexts where it already had an established presence. In 1984, WUSC partnered with UNHCR and the World Food Programme to provide food relief to people affected by the famine in Ethiopia. In 2004, WUSC provided humanitarian relief to those affected by the tsunami in Sri Lanka, and again in 2019 to those affected by Hurricane Maria in Dominica.

In 1975, WUSC began the implementation of one of the country’s first bilateral development projects, a rural water project in Swaziland. The organization continued to partner with the Government of Canada and other development funders in the years that followed, implementing several projects that addressed global issues related to education and training, water and sanitation, and health in countries such as Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Malawi, Nepal, Ivory Coast, Peru, Sri Lanka, and Tunisia.

WUSC Operations Today

Chris Eaton Executive Director WUSC/EUMC

Today, WUSC operates in over 25 countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas to improve education, economic, and empowerment opportunities for young people. While its programming portfolio evolves each year, there are many notable current initiatives that contribute toward a better world for all youth.

 In Kenya, South Sudan, Syria, and Uganda, WUSC is improving access to quality education for girls living in refugee contexts and surrounding host communities. In Iraq, Jordan and Ghana, WUSC is improving employment opportunities for young people through the strengthening of vocational training programs and the fostering of more inclusive work environments. In West Africa, WUSC engages communities in the effective management of extractive resource investment and the leadership of young people in local development planning. In the Caribbean, WUSC promotes climate resilient agriculture to increase economic opportunities for youth in sustainable agriculture. WUSC receives funding for these initiatives from Global Affairs Canada and UK Aid, and through the generous support of individual Canadians.

PHOTO A student takes notes during class in the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. WUSC has been supporting girls’ access to upper primary and secondary education for more than two decades

WUSC also administers Canada’s “Programme Canadien de bourses de la Francophonie (PCBF)” in partnership with CBIE which builds institutional capacities by training students from developing countries of La Francophonie. And around the world, WUSC engages in research to advance global understanding of issues like forced migration, climate change, young women’s leadership, and social finance.

WUSC also remains a leader in the engagement of Canadians as international volunteers for global development. In 2004, WUSC partnered with another Canadian non-profit organization, CECI, to launch the country’s largest international volunteer cooperation program funded by the Government of Canada. This program ran for 15 years, mobilizing more than 5,000 Canadians to help strengthen the capacity of hundreds of organizations around the world so that they could improve their support and services in their communities. Since 2020, WUSC has been implementing its own international volunteer program, IGNI+E, demonstrating creativity and commitment to continue its support of its volunteer partner organizations during the global pandemic and the suspension of most international travel through a new e-volunteer program and other capacity-building digital activities.

Young Refugees

WUS Canada’s work providing pathways to durable solutions for young refugees also remains central to its work today. More than 100 university, college, and CEGEP campuses are now part of the Student Refugee Program, which continues to resettle approximately 150 young refugees every year. Since the 2015 Syrian refugee crisis put a spotlight back on the global refugee crisis, WUSC has been engaged in many conversations with other countries interested in adopting similar community-based sponsorship and education pathways to resettlement, even helping to create a similar initiative in Mexico. In Canada, WUSC has continued to innovate in its own model, piloting new employment-linked and athletic pathways to resettlement for refugees in recent years. Since 2020, WUSC has partnered with the Mastercard Foundation to build more inclusive institutions and systems for refugee and displaced youth across sub-Saharan Africa.

PHOTO A student supported by WUSC’s Student Refugee Program at his graduation ceremony. Over 2,000 young refugees have been resettled to Canada through the program where they can continue their post-secondary education in safe and secure environment

WUSC also administers Canada’s “Programme Canadien de bourses de la Francophonie (PCBF)” in partnership with CBIE which builds institutional capacities by training students from developing countries of La Francophonie. And around the world, WUSC engages in research to advance global understanding of issues like forced migration, climate change, young women’s leadership, and social finance.

WUSC also remains a leader in the engagement of Canadians as international volunteers for global development. In 2004, WUSC partnered with another Canadian non-profit organization, CECI, to launch the country’s largest international volunteer cooperation program funded by the Government of Canada. This program ran for 15 years, mobilizing more than 5,000 Canadians to help strengthen the capacity of hundreds of organizations around the world so that they could improve their support and services in their communities.

Recent developments

Since 2020, WUSC has been implementing its own international volunteer program, IGNI+E, demonstrating creativity and commitment to continue its support of its volunteer partner organizations during the global pandemic and the suspension of most international travel through a new e-volunteer program and other capacity-building digital activities. WUS Canada’s work providing pathways to durable solutions for young refugees also remains central to its work today. More than 100 university, college, and CEGEP campuses are now part of the Student Refugee Program, which continues to resettle approximately 150 young refugees every year. Since the 2015 Syrian refugee crisis put a spotlight back on the global refugee crisis, WUSC has been engaged in many conversations with other countries interested in adopting similar community-based sponsorship and education pathways to resettlement, even helping to create a similar initiative in Mexico. In Canada, WUSC has continued to innovate in its own model, piloting new employment-linked and athletic pathways to resettlement for refugees in recent years. Since 2020, WUSC has partnered with the Mastercard Foundation to build more inclusive institutions and systems for refugee and displaced youth across sub-Saharan Africa.

PHOTO A student supported by WUSC’s Student Refugee Program at his graduation ceremony. Over 2,000 young refugees have been resettled to Canada through the program where they can continue their post-secondary education in safe and secure environment

Mobilizing young people

One thing that has never changed is WUSC’s determination to mobilize young people toward the creation of a better world for all youth. There are more than 1.8 billion people – approximately 24% of the global population – who are between the ages of 10 and 24. Youth are coming of age in a world that is ripe with opportunity and disruption. Yet they also face incredible obstacles to realizing their full potential.

WUSC believes that working with and for youth is the most efficient, sustainable, and cost-effective way to tackle the roots of poverty, presently and in the years to come, for youth themselves, their families, and their communities. Young people’s ideas, ideals, innovations, and power can transform the world.

 In its 100 years of history, WUSC has had the immense pleasure of witnessing first-hand the power young people hold to create lasting positive change. It has also had the privilege to follow the journeys of thousands of young people who first became involved in global development through the organization. Many of these youth have gone on to become researchers who shape public understanding of the world, inventors of incredible new solutions, leaders of business and non-profit organizations, human rights lawyers and even Supreme Court Chief Justices and Prime Ministers.

There is no doubt that youth today face incredible challenges in the form of inequalities, climate change, and forced migration. But if WUSC’s 100- year history has proven anything, it is that young people are up for the challenge. We are honoured to continue this journey with them.

Author profile

Stephanie Leclair is Director for Communications and Digital Transformation with WUS Canada.