Karen Refugee Family Begins New Life in Canada

On Tuesday, September 4, 2007, Mu Tha and Lar Pa Paw walked their son, Taw Ner Win, to his first day of school in Hamilton. The family arrived in Canada in May 2007 as refugees. They were part of a group processing of Karen refugees that began in 2006.

The Karen, a minority ethnic group, fled their country in the late 1990s following a major offensive by the Burmese government army against the Karen National Union. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees identified 13,000 of an estimated refugee population of 140,000 in need of priority resettlement.

Canada began interviewing and processing 810 Karen refugees in 2006. In February 2007, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration announced that Canada would accept another 2,000 refugees for resettlement.

Mu Tha and Lar Pa Paw fled their village in 1997 after Burmese soldiers burned their village. Mu Tha worked in agriculture in Myanmar (formerly Burma) prior to fleeing the village. The couple fled to Mae La Oon refugee camp, on the border of Myanmar and Thailand, where they remained for ten years. Their three children were born in the camp.

The family arrived in Canada in May 2007 and received support from the Settlement and Integration Services Organization in Hamilton through CIC’s Resettlement Assistance Program.