A coffee with… Joey Hanna | From legal aid to the United Nations

The cause of refugees is not trivial for Joey Hanna, new head of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Montreal (UNHCR).

“It’s something that strikes a chord with me,” the 33-year-old committed lawyer told me.

A year after the deadly Hamas attacks in Israel, as we witness an escalation of violence in the Middle East and UNHCR attempts to help a growing number of people uprooted against their will, I wanted to meet M^e Joey Hanna to talk about the cause that is close to his heart and which is closely linked to his personal journey.

“The situation is extremely worrying,” says Joey Hanna, referring to the staggering number of forced displacements in the world’s hot spots, not only in Gaza or Lebanon, but also in a country like Sudan, which is experiencing one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world.

Today we are talking about more than 120 million people forced to flee in search of security and peace on the planet. A tragic number which has been constantly increasing for 12 years and which will continue to do so as long as we do not tackle the root causes of forced displacement, he recalls.

“In Gaza, more than 75% of the population had to move. This is unprecedented. And the most worrying thing is that the multiple calls for a ceasefire and de-escalation do not seem to be heard by all the belligerents. »

A regional conflagration would be a humanitarian catastrophe both for the region and for the world.

The head of the UNHCR Montreal office also calls for respect for international humanitarian law. At a time when the number of civilian deaths in Lebanon continues to rise and we are experiencing the deadliest year for humanitarian workers, he recalls that civilians and humanitarians should never be a target . And yet, the disastrous list continues to grow, he notes with sadness. Two weeks ago, two of his UNHCR colleagues in Lebanon, Dina Darwiche and Ali Basma, were killed by Israeli strikes. The photo of Dina Darwiche and her youngest son Jad, embracing and smiling in happier days, long before a missile hit the building where the family lived, is particularly heartbreaking.

“I could have been in his place…”

Born in Montreal to Syrian parents, Joey Hanna was not himself forcibly uprooted. In 1991, his parents left Syria by choice, a luxury that refugees do not have.

When he took the plane to Montreal, his mother was heavily pregnant, he says. In principle, at more than eight months pregnant, she should not board a plane. But thinking about all the time it had taken to finally get his visa for Canada, there was no question of putting off that dream. She draped herself in several layers of clothing to hide her round belly. Joey was born two weeks later, one day in May 1991.

Joey Hanna’s father, a tailor in Syria, landed his first job at Moores. His mother, who had studied psychology and hoped to one day study law, had to put her ambitions aside to raise her son.

When he entered school, little Joey only spoke Arabic, his mother tongue. So much so that we wondered if he didn’t have a learning disability. A teacher of Egyptian origin saw that this was not the case. He was sent to a French class. The “trouble” evaporated and Joey Hanna was able to honor the dream of his parents who, like so many immigrants, had put their own aspirations on hold so their children could get a college education.

“My parents always associated freedom with education,” he says.

Before finding his way to the United Nations, Joey Hanna worked as a lawyer at the Montreal Community Legal Center. From legal aid to international law, his journey may seem disjointed at first glance. “But for me, there is a common thread which is the protection of vulnerable people. »

The trigger that led him to take a closer interest in the cause of refugees occurred in 2015, with the arrival of Syrian refugees in Canada. It was far from his reality, but at the same time so close. He saw his Syrian cousins ​​forced into exile because of the war. Some crossed the Mediterranean at the risk of their lives. Others have been resettled in Australia thanks to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

What could he do to help his community? He returned to the neighborhood of his childhood, Cartierville, where his family lived before moving to Laval. He knocked on the door of the Oblate Sisters who had sponsored several Syrian families. To their great joy, the neighborhood kid who became a lawyer suggested they create legal education workshops for Syrian newcomers. They offered him coffee, cookies and the church basement. He offered them his knowledge, his humanity and his shaky Arabic. He also discussed his project with his constitutional law professor Danielle Pinard. Excited by the idea, she suggested that he work in collaboration with four of her students who wanted to get involved.

At first, the workshops mainly attracted Syrians. Then, with word of mouth helping, people from other origins as well as people from the neighborhood who were neither refugees nor immigrants, but just curious to learn more about housing law or family taxation, joined the meetings. .

This extraordinary human experience acted like a detonator, says Joey Hanna. He decides to take a sabbatical year to branch out into international law. In 2021, he is applying for an internship at the UNHCR in Montreal. When it is pointed out to him that he is overqualified for an intern position, he responds that he wants to give himself a gift. The head of the UNHCR office at the time, Ms.^e Denise Otis considers that it was rather the opposite that happened: it was he who, without knowing it, offered a gift to the UNHCR. Three years later, when she retired, she was succeeded by Joey Hanna.

As head of the UNHCR office in Montreal, Joey Hanna has a bridge-building mandate that he greatly enjoys and which is in perfect continuity with his social commitment. “I have a role of education and dialogue. »

He meets decision-makers and raises their awareness of the issues affecting asylum seekers. He also gives public lectures and speaks in the media. He participates in podcast shows, notably that of his best friend Jay Du Temple who has already joked that he could probably get course credit by talking with someone so brilliant and open-minded. ‘spirit.

At a time when asylum seekers are too often scapegoated, Joey Hanna makes it his duty to debunk the myths about them. The ills of our society, whether we are talking about the housing crisis or the public services crisis, are complex problems with historical roots, he recalls.

“Pointing the finger at people seeking asylum, making them responsible for all the ills of our society, is wrong and too simplistic. I invite people to find complex answers to equally complex questions. »

Nelson Mandela said that “the best weapon is to sit down and talk”. In a divisive world lacking peace, Joey Hanna is convinced of this. “We must continue to dialogue. »

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