About | BC Newcomer Camp

WHO WE ARE

BC Newcomer Camp is a Canadian registered charity that offers day camp programs throughout the summer to support recently arrived refugee children. By developing their English skills and engaging them in a variety of activities, our immersive and engaging environment prepares newly arrived refugee children with the skills and confidence needed to succeed in their new home. In the company of peers with common backgrounds and experiences, they are able to learn, grow and develop vital skills that will help them feel at home in Canada.

Through sports, arts and crafts activities, BC Newcomer Camp helps to build friendships, community, teamwork, and confidence in the children.

By teaching these skills, we equip the children with the tools needed to more easily make friends and successfully transition to the classroom when they enter the public school system. Our camps include staff members that are fluent in a variety of languages, as well as members trained in specific sports and English language teachers.

WHAT WE DO

Comprehensive English language education programs tailored to our participants’ existing abilities and taught by experienced and specialized educators fluent in the participants’ native languages.

Sports lessons teaching soccer, basketball, and baseball. We also teach a variety of popular playground games that our participants will encounter during recess at their new school.

Healthy meals and snacks are provided throughout the day, taking into account any dietary restrictions. A celebration BBQ is offered at the end of camps.

Transportation passes are provided as many of our participants and their families face economic challenges.

Providing small group music lessons to newcomer refugee children and youth.

Work experience and volunteer opportunities for newcomer youth.

Our programs are offered completely free of cost to newcomer families.

WHO WE HELP

Recently arrived refugee children face difficulties in acclimatizing to Canada, including being at greater risk of encountering unequal access to services, social exclusion, isolation, and low educational achievement.

Many of our participants have spent large portions of their lives in refugee camps and entering a formal education system can be very intimidating.

Their lives have been marked by trauma and they haven’t had the chance to experience childhood the way most other Canadian children have. Our camps provide them with a warm welcome to Canada and allow them to have a carefree, fun experience.

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ENDORSEMENTS

The Honourable Ahmed Hussen, P.C., M.P. Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

By providing a fun and engaging environment in which newcomer children can make new friends, build confidence, and develop language and other skills, this program supports community development and helps refugee children feel more welcome and at home in Canada.

Click to read Minister Hussen's endorsement letter

Deb Bryant, CEO

Association of Neighbourhood Houses of British Columbia

With the arrival of so many Syrian refugee children to the Vancouver area, we see that there is a need for pre-teen programming. Many of these children have never had any formal schooling. The East Vancouver Newcomer Camp helps them get prepared to enter school this fall by providing a structured and organized educational environment.

Jocelyne Hamel, Executive Director of Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House

Programmed by volunteers with strong backgrounds in athletics, and numerous Arabic speakers, the East Vancouver Newcomer Camp a fun and engaging way for refugees to learn English and sports in a supportive, nurturing environment.