About Us
At Rainbow Haven, we are dedicated to providing food and shelter to LGBTQI+ asylum seekers while they work their way through the refugee process. Rainbow Haven is an all-volunteer organization.
Who we are
Rainbow Haven is an all-volunteer organization.
Our team
Emel - founder
My name is Emel, and at 30 years old, I’ve found a new beginning in Canada. My journey began in 2019, and within three years, I embraced the proud moment of becoming a Canadian citizen.
Today, I stand as a Nursing Aid, steadfast on the path to becoming a Nurse—a dream fueled by the support I received during my most vulnerable times. My quest for asylum was marked by discrimination and rejection from friends and family, leading me to seek refuge in a foreign land.
Alone and unsupported, I faced the harsh reality of homelessness. It was only after weeks on the streets that I encountered fellow asylum seekers from my homeland. These compassionate individuals offered me shelter, sustenance, and guidance to initiate my asylum process. Despite their own hardships, they shared their meager resources with me, for which I am eternally grateful.
Our collective struggle for survival often meant facing homelessness, especially when our sexual orientation became known.
In 2018, we faced this plight again, but hope arrived in the form of a friend in Canada. Through his connection, Duane, a kind-hearted Canadian, we found support. A GoFundMe campaign he organized provided us with the means to secure private housing and navigate the asylum process, eventually leading to my resettlement in Canada.
Canada has been a beacon of hope, offering me not just refuge but the chance to grow personally and professionally.
As a Nursing Aid, I contribute to the community that welcomed me, while pursuing my goal to become a Nurse. My experiences have instilled in me resilience, empathy, and a deep appreciation for the power of community support.
I am now committed to giving back and supporting those in the asylum process, particularly LGBTQ+ individuals who face similar adversities. Rainbow Haven stands as a testament to this commitment, aiming to offer sustenance and shelter to those in need.
Without the generosity of Duane and his network, my story might have been different. Many friends were lost along the way, some to illness, others to the tortured journey. At Rainbow Haven, we strive to extend the same lifeline that was once thrown to me, helping as many asylum claimants as possible. Your support can make all the difference.
Duane lecky - Chair
I’m a software applications expert living in Victoria, BC.
The refugee work at Victoria’s St. John the Divine Anglican Church inspired my husband Murray and me to host two gay Gambian asylum-seekers.
One of them told us about the brutality faced by queer refugees in the Gambia. They flee to Dakar in neighbouring Senegal. He figured $1000 a month could support ten gay refugees waiting out asylum claims in Dakar.
We raised that money from family and friends. When Emel, one of those refugees in Dakar, arrived in Canada, he dreamed of forming a society to help others the way we helped him. I was in. The need for that help is greater now than it was then.
david buckman
David came to Canada from England in 1969, and worked for C-I-L in various capacities, retiring in 1990 to start a new career as Financial Adviser.
After “retiring” to BC in 2003, he attended St. John’s until asked to be Treasurer at St. Paul’s Esquimalt, until end-2018.
Since March 2019, he has been Treasurer at St. John’s and is on PC to take part in decisions, and not just as an Officer.
ron charles
Communications Committee Member
I’m a retired Journalist living in Victoria BC.
Since leaving the news Business in 2019,
I’ve been looking for more concrete ways to help people in desperate need. That’s how I became involved with Rainbow Haven, which provides concrete help to Queer people forced into desperation by intolerance and hatred.
john mclaren
John McLaren is a parishioner at the Anglican Church of St. John the Divine in Victoria, with over 30 years of refugee sponsorship and support behind him, and an ongoing commitment to social justice in his faith community.
Now retired from the U Vic Faculty of Law, in his working life he taught for 42 years at four Canadian law schools, serving as Dean at two of them.
His research interests have lain primarily in Canadian and comparative legal history, including the law’s treatment of minority groups.
ron pettapiece
I’m retired from a career in management of medical, humanitarian and emergency services in Government, medical facilities and NGOs including a division of the Australian Red Cross.
I’m currently a Health and Cultural Ambassador for the Vancouver Island Counselling Centre for Immigrants and Refugees, providing phycho-education to new Canadians from war-torn countries like Ukraine.
I became involved with Rainbow Haven to improve the lives of fellow LGBTQ people who are persecuted in their own countries due to their sexuality.
brian seymour
A retired provincial civil servant, I first became aware of the many difficulties faced by refugees while volunteering at the Intercultural Association of Victoria.
I am keenly interested in supporting the safety and the physical and emotional well-being of LGBTQ+ refugees both upon their arrival in Canada and during their asylum-seeking journeys.
CARLES ROCH-CUNILL
Originally from Catalonia, Carles came to Canada to complete a post-doc in Condensed Matter followed by a career change to software engineering.
Always interested in Social Justice, he has been supporting refugees in different forms for the last decade. As a gay man, he is acutely aware the litany of horrors that afflict every asylum seeker is even longer for the LGBTQ+ collective. Hate and violence follows when they flee their countries of origin for other countries.
Now retired, when offered the opportunity to collaborate with Rainbow Haven, he jumped to it as a way to make a real difference in the lives of real people
