Immigrant Services Society sees 25 per cent spike in donations

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – As US President Donald Trump’s travel ban gets ready to hit appeals court, the Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISSofBC) has noticed an unusual jump in donations.

Donations over the last two weeks are up 25 per cent over the same period last year when the society normally sees a drop following the holiday season.

Lily Lim with ISSofBC says messages of support have accompanied donations, including words of encouragement from Canadians and former refugees.

“One said ‘welcome.’ It’s a simple word but with a large meaning,” Lim says. “The other one that also touched us is ‘immigrants are always welcome in our country and I’ll fight to keep it that way.”

In the US, Trump’s travel and refugee ban edged up the judicial escalator Monday, headed for a possible final face-off at the Supreme Court after the appeals court refused to immediately reinstate the ban over the weekend.

On Friday US District Judge James Robart overturned the president’s executive order banning travelers from the seven countries, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, saying they could enter the US if they had valid visas.

Lim isn’t sure if there is a link between the spike in donations and what’s happening in the US.

“It’s hard to say for sure because none of the messages have made a direct link to what’s going on south of the border,” she says, adding in such a digitally connected world, people are becoming much more aware of the issues around them and what they can do to help.

Donations to ISSofBC can be made on their website.

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