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.

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

History of the Burma Problem

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?

Karen refugees living in Mae La camp.

Drug Trade in Canada
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.

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 addiction treatment
• Helps reduce violence against women and children
• Eases family poverty
• Provides hope where there is little

What You Can Do for DARE

• 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

Help DARE Network respond to substance abuse along the Thai/Burma Border. (Photo courtesy of Nicolas Axelrod).

Donate

To help DARE Network respond to the addiction problems on the border donations can be made to DARE Network in the following ways.

Online:
Donating online using your credit is fast, easy and secure.

You can donate to specific projects like our youth programs or rebuilding after the flood through Global Giving by clicking the button below.

By Cheque or Credit Card at the Primates World Relief and Development Fund (Anglican Church of Canada):

Mail a cheque made out to PWRDF and mark DARE Network 

on the memo line of the cheque.  To donate by credit card please

call one of the numbers below. A Canadian tax receipt will be issued for your donation.

 The Primate's World Relief & Development Fund

 80 Hayden St., Toronto, ON M4Y 3G2

 Phone: (416) 924-9199 ext. 206  Fax: (416) 924-3483 Toll-free:1-866-308-7973

Contact

Friends of DARE Network Stratford, Ontario This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.