Resilience of Canada's refugees celebrated in UN agency anniversary cookbook

CTV National News: Recipes from refugees People who came to Canada as refugees share their culture through recipes in a new digital cookbook. John Vennavally-Rao reports.

TORONTO — The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is marking the 70th anniversary of its operation in Canada with a free digital cookbook featuring recipes and personal stories of "resilience, heartbreak and hope" from refugees across Canada.

The cookbook, titled "Tastes from Home: Recipes from the Refugee Community," features more than 30 recipes and personal stories from 14 former refugees including Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Ahmed Hussen and former Governor General of Canada Adrienne Clarkson.

For every copy of the cookbook downloaded, an anonymous donor will be making a donation to UNHCR in support of refugees and their families.

UNHCR Canada spokesperson Lauren La Rose told CTVNews.ca the cookbook is an opportunity to share the traditions and cultures of refugees, but also "reflect on the journey that brought them" to Canada.

"Food is just such a connective thread in all of our lives and not just from the standpoint of being nourishing and life sustaining, but it connects families and friends and communities," La Rose said in a telephone interview on Thursday.

She added that sharing food with others can be "optimistic and hopeful."

"Food is such a powerful communicator. You can share love with food, you can, in a small way, even educate people with food," La Rose explained. "The cookbook gives you a chance to really expand on your own kind of culinary journey in terms of using different spices and ingredients, or putting together different dishes that you might not have before."

SHARING RECIPES AND STORIES

Minister Ahmed Hussen hopes the recipes and stories shared in this cookbook help to humanize refugees and show their resilience in striving for a better life.

"Refugees are humans just like us," Hussen said in a telephone interview with CTVNews.ca on Thursday. "They're real people who just happen to be displaced.

"Refugees are not monolithic, they come from all corners of the world, they have different experiences, they have different genders and ages and skill sets and perspectives -- and that's OK because they reflect humanity," he added.

Hussen has three recipes in UNHCR Canada’s cookbook: spaghetti with tomato sauce and basil, grilled swordfish, and garlic-butter scallops.

Growing up in eastern Somalia on the Indian Ocean coast, Hussen said the majority of the food he ate was centered around seafood, or had an Italian influence as parts of Somalia were controlled by Italy at the time.

Hussen and his family later immigrated to Canada in 1993.

Hussen said he doesn’t cook often but when he does, it reminds him of his mother who ran the home and raised a family, all while finding the time to prepare nourishing meals on a daily basis.

"We weren't rich or anything, we were working class family, but she did a lot with a few ingredients and living next to the ocean certainly had a huge influence on us, as did the Italian influence," he explained.

While the cookbook's recipes highlight the culture of refugees, Hussen said the personal stories also provide an opportunity for asylum-seekers to reflect on their past.

"It's a chance for all of us who were once refugees to find out a little bit more about the stories of other refugees, and their experiences in their homelands and their story of survival and resilience in the face of difficulties," Hussen said.

For former Governor General of Canada Adrienne Clarkson, she says she likely wouldn’t have learned how to cook had she not immigrated to Canada from Japanese-occupied Hong Kong in 1941.

"I probably would not have ever cooked if I'd stayed in Hong Kong because it's a class society and so I would have run a house, but I would have had a cook and so I would have been telling a cook what to do," Clarkson explained in a telephone interview with CTVNews.ca on Thursday.

Clarkson, who was Governor General from 1999-2005, has contributed a poached Chinese chicken recipe to UNHCR Canada's cookbook, which she says is a dish that "shows Chinese cooking at its finest."

Clarkson said she learned to cook at the age of nine from her mother who made traditional, home-cooked Chinese meals three or four times a week for the family.

Clarkson said she thought knowing how to cook would be a valuable skill should her family ever have to flee again.

"I love cooking and I always have and I guess that was because I was a refugee. We always thought that if there were another war, we'd have to go somewhere and make our life again as we had when we first came to Canada," Clarkson said.

"Because you've been a refugee once, you never doubt that you could lose everything again," she added.

Clarkson said the cookbook's recipes and personal stories show that when refugees come to Canada, they make the country their home, but also bring some parts of their culture to share with others.

She added that there are few things that bring people of different backgrounds together like a home-cooked meal.

"I think doing things for yourself and having that satisfaction that you've cooked something wonderful for your family, nothing can replace that," Clarkson said.

REFUGEE CRISIS

According to UNHCR, Canada has been a global leader in refugee resettlement and has welcomed more than one million refugees since 1980. In 2018, Canada resettled more refugees than any other country.

While La Rose acknowledges that Canada has "accomplished quite a bit" when it comes to helping those who have been displaced, she says "there's still a long way to go."

According to the UNHCR, 80 million people are displaced worldwide including more than 26 million refugees.

"We're so fortunate to have the 14 individuals who are now part of the Canadian family to share their stories in this cookbook, but there's so many more out there that are in need of support and assistance," La Rose said.

La Rose explained that the Canadian operation of the UN refugee agency was created in 1950 following the Second World War to help address the "large numbers" of people who were uprooted in Europe following the war's end.

"The mandate of UNHCR Canada was only supposed to last for three years, and here we are, 70 years after that because the need remains immensely great," La Rose said.

By hearing directly from refugees who have found a home in Canada, La Rose said she hopes the cookbook will raise more awareness about UNHCR Canada and the work it does in helping asylum-seekers.

"We hope that people will walk away with a little bit more of an insight in education on what causes people to be displaced, and the fact that there's so many more people in need," La Rose said.