It’s winter in Canada! This change in seasons means the chance to ice skate, sled, snowmobile, and build fantastic snowmen – it also means that it’s time to take extra care due to storms and extra cold conditions.  Enjoying winter weather while staying safe and warm takes some extra precautions. Here are some tips to keep you prepared.

There’s Black Friday, a day to kick off holiday spending, and there’s Cyber Monday, a day for online sales. But did you know about Giving Tuesday? This year, Tuesday, December 1 will mark the start of charitable holiday giving.

On Saturday, October 3rd a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan was attacked in an aerial bombing. 30 people were killed including MSF staff and patients, and dozens more were injured. The bombing made headlines and raised questions – specifically, what does International Humanitarian Law (IHL) say about hospitals?
 

How do some countries and regions escape relatively unscathed from major disasters, while others struggle to recover from these events? Many factors are at play, and while it’s impossible to compare one disaster with another, it’s clear that the level of preparedness and the local capacity to respond quickly to the disaster can significantly improve the outcomes.

The current refugee crisis is highlighting how important technology, including smart phones, social media and the Internet, has become to people affected by humanitarian crises.

Millions of Syrians are displaced both inside Syria and increasingly in neighbouring countries and Europe. An estimated 350,000 people have entered Europe so far this year, fleeing conflict in Syria, but also arriving from Iraq, Afghanistan and parts of Africa. These include many women, children and families.

The Canadian Red Cross is shipping 20,000 relief items (cots and blankets) to support the German Red Cross response to the refugee crisis.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year (cue the iconic back to school shopping commercial). This catchy jingle is not the best reflection of the majority of children and teens who are returning to class. For some, it’s the end of summer vacation that stings the most, but for others it is the fear of returning to a place where they are bullied.