Louisa Taylor

Director, Refugee 613

Director at Refugee 613

Media

The National Conversation: YOUR questions on refugees

The refugee story has sparked confusion and concern for many Canadians. We answer YOUR questions in a special National Conversation. Click here for the full story: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/details-government-syrian-refugees-1.3338266 »»» Subscribe to The National to watch more videos here: https://www.youtube.com/user/CBCTheNational?sub_confirmation=1 Voice Your Opinion & Connect With Us Online: The National Updates on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thenational The National Updates on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CBCTheNational The National Updates on Google+: https://plus.google.com/+CBCTheNational »»» »»» »»» »»» »»» The National is CBC Television's flagship news program. Airing seven days a week, the show delivers news, feature documentaries and analysis from some of Canada's leading journalists.

Biography

Louisa Taylor is co-founder and director of Refugee 613, a grassroots project supporting Ottawa’s response to the global refugee crisis. Refugee 613 helps to inform, connect and inspire residents to improve the settlement and integration of refugees in the national capital. In her previous life as an award-winning writer and editor, Taylor’s journalism appeared in the Toronto Star, Maclean’s magazine, the Ottawa Citizen and The Economist, among others. She is co-chair of Welcoming Ottawa Week,  an annual festival of events celebrating Ottawa’s immigrant community, founder of @datafestOTT which explore intersections between migration and new technology, and serves on the Advisory Committee on Social Innovation, which explores new policy ideas in settlement and integration for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

Recognition/Reconnaissance

United Way Community Builders of the Year Award 2016 | Professional

Refugee 613 was one of four agencies chosen to represent the community when the United Way honoured Ottawa's collective work to resettle more than 1,600 Syrian refugees in 2016.

Media Leadership Award | Professional

From the Ottawa Community immigrant Services Organization, for coverage of immigration policy and newcomer communities in Ottawa

Joan Gullen Award for Media Excellence | Professional

For Ottawa Citizen series on the social and health implications of expansion of gambling in Ontario.

Joan Gullen Award for Media Excellence | Professional

For Ottawa Citizen feature on a homeless shelter for young women.

Canadian Medical Association Media Award for Excellence in Health Reporting | Professional

For Ottawa Citizen series Unhealthy Welcome, about immigrant and refugee health.

Additional Titles and Affiliations

The Migrationist

The Travers Debates

Datafest Ottawa

Links

Expertise

  • Strategic Communications
  • Stakeholder & Public Engagement
  • Refugee Resettlement
  • Immigration
  • Human Rights
  • Communications for Non-Profits
  • Diversity & Inclusion
  • Coalition Building

Education/Éducation

  • University of Oxford, School of Continuing Education
    Migration Studies
    International Labour Migration, 2014

    Continuing Education credit course with Prof. Martin Ruhs on the determinants, impacts and regulation of labour migration around the world.


  • McGill University
    History and Political Science
    B.A., 1989
  • Metropolis Professional Development Program
    Migration Policy & Management, 2014

    Intensive professional short-course on international migration and its effects on society, with a focus on how policy and programs can influence these effects to the advantage of the receiving societies, the immigrants themselves, and their homelands.