New CEO has seen ‘360 degrees’ of Wesley
Rashed Afif, who came to Canada as a refugee, is now heading up one of the country’s largest resettlement agencies for newcomers
He was once a refugee.
Now, 39-year-old Rashed Afif is heading up Wesley, one of the largest refugee resettlement agencies in the country.
“The vision I have as a new leader is to make this the biggest newcomer hub in Canada,” he said. “Right here they would feel home. They would feel they belong.”
Speaking to the Spectator from a lush, sunny courtyard that connects various wings of the organization’s new building on Main Street East, Afif shares the significance of a newcomer’s “firsts” — that is, the first people they meet and the first place they stay, which contribute to building a “vision” of their new home.
The former retirement residence, which is still under renovation, will integrate short-term housing, programs and services under one roof.
Once the space opens later this year, a residential wing will accommodate about 100 newcomers while the organization helps them to find more stable housing and get settled in a new country. Twenty clients in a special-care unit, for homeless people experiencing substance use and mental-health issues, will have their own rooms on another floor.
Afif might be just weeks into his tenure as chief executive officer, but he’s seen “the 360 degrees” of Wesley’s work, he said. In his 10 years with the organization, he’s worked with youth, seniors, people struggling with substance abuse — to whom he regularly lost at pool, he said — people who are homeless and, most recently, as senior director overseeing newcomer, housing and employment services.
But his journey championing human rights began as a young person in Afghanistan.
At 16, Afif founded the University Institute of Foreign Languages, one of the first educational institutions open to women after the collapse of the Taliban. A medical doctor by training, he worked in the nonprofit sector and for the United Nations until he fled the country. He offers scant details about that period of his life because of safety concerns. But in 2009, he came to Canada as a refugee claimant.
“If you are fighting for human rights, for women’s rights, if you are fighting for equity, diversity, you’re not safe,” he explained. “That automatically makes you a target.”
A refugee’s journey is rife with barriers, Afif said. Despite his background, for instance, he once found himself living in a shelter, unable to find a job in a “highly competitive” market where international credentials are often not accepted.
But he also acknowledges a level of privilege.
“I was a man, I was single, so I didn’t have a family to feed, I was highly educated and I was speaking English right off the bat,” he said.
After searching for work for a year, Afif went back to school for an undergraduate degree and, later, a master’s degree in social work from the University of Windsor. He also has a certificate in non-profit management from the University of Toronto.
Newcomers to Canada face a multitude of challenges, but finding housing — often without cash or credit — is a big one, Afif said. His staff work “magic,” often finding clients a place to live within a month of arriving. But it’s a constant struggle to find and build relationships with landlords willing to rent to newcomers who are still getting settled, especially amid a persistent housing crisis.
Afif, who lives on the Mountain with his spouse and two young kids, said “there’s a responsibility on the shoulder of the community” to help Wesley achieve its mission to transform lives of those facing the challenges of a fresh start in Canada,
poverty, homelessness and substance use.
“It’s not us alone. There’s no way one organization can sort these systemic challenges. We need everybody to work together and help us to solve this problem.”
The goal at Wesley, Afif said, is for clients to tell staff they don’t need them anymore. Afif said he occasionally runs into former clients who are now business owners, engineers and lawyers.
“I still see some of the youth, 10 years ago I worked with them,” he said. “And they are these amazing people.”
It’s these success stories, and the resiliency that makes them possible, that motivate Afif and his team.
“It makes us wake up in the morning and work harder,” he said. “Everyone deserves a chance.”