Friends of DARE Network

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Our Mission:

Friends of DARE is a non-profit Canadian charity. Friends of DARE educates other Canadians on the oppressive and dangerous situation in Burma and supports the efforts the DARE Network to prevent and treat substance abuse within the displaced people of Burma.

What Dare Does

  • Reduces the harm from alcohol and drug addiction for refugee people on the Thai/Burma border.
  • Empowers refugees through community-based approaches.
  • Incorporates traditional and cultural methods into holistic addication treatment.
  • Helps reduce violence against women and children.
  • Eases family poverty.
  • Provides hope where there is little.
Friends of DARE Network

How To Help

  • Donate to Friends of DARE Network
  • Sponsor DARE Network events
  • Volunteer at DARE Network events
  • Attend DARE Network events
  • Donate to silent auctions
  • Join Friends of DARE Network

DARE To Care

History of the Burma Problem

Friends of DARE Network

Tham Hin refugee camp (Photo courtesy of Nicolas Axelrod).

Since 1962 the people of Burma have been ruled by a vicious military junta who have systematically attempted to ethnically cleanse the minority tribes of the country.

In 1988, the military regime ordered the massacre of students and monks who were calling for democracy. The ruling junta has refused to accept the outcome of the 1990 elections, instead choosing to rule by force.

Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, the legally elected leader of the Burmese people, has been under house arrest for over 16 years.

Over 100,000 people who have fled Burma are now in nine refugee camps on the Thailand/Burma border while thousands continue to flee the country or hide in the jungles of the ethnic states.

Thailand also hosts more than 1 million migrants from Burma working in factories and farms for long hours and minimal pay. These migrant workers are often fleeing the same human rights abuses and loss of livelihoods as those confined to refugee camps along the border.

What Does Burma Have to do With Me?

Drug Trade in Canada

Karen refugees living in Mae La camp.

The military regime of Burma is a narco-dictatorship. This means they keep their economy going by growing and exporting drugs such as heroin. Most of the heroin on the streets of Canada comes from Burma.

This affects Canadians every day in terms of health care and crime. The proceeds of these drugs are used by the regime to buy arms to use against their own people.

Resettlement of Karen Refugees

Because the ethnic people of Burma cannot go home, developed countries including Canada have accepted refugees for resettlement.

The Karen are one of the largest ethnic group in Burma and thousands of Karen people will settle in many communities across Canada during the next few years.