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.
Today, 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.