BBR Building Bridges With Rwanda
Building Communities at Home

The bridge between Canada and Rwanda does not end when a journey returns home.

BBR brings lessons, relationships, and conversations into Canadian communities through education, youth leadership, storytelling, community dialogue, and partnerships.

The other end of the bridge is here at home.

Youth Leadership

Bridging Barriers and future youth programming.

With the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health at the University of Toronto, BBR is empowering African youth (ages 18–26) to address housing precarity at the intersection of race, climate change, and homelessness. Using a participatory action approach, youth document their experiences, engage decision-makers, and gain skills in community organizing, research, and advocacy — collaborating on a 30-minute video that amplifies their voices.

The Building Bridges Fellowship — developing emerging community leaders who carry the work of reciprocal learning forward in both countries — grows from this same ground.

Bridging Barriers — the story
Bridging Barriers: housing access for African youth amidst a housing crisis
Bridging Barriers: housing access for African youth amidst a housing crisis
Universities & Schools

SFU, UBC, Douglas College and educational partnerships.

With SFU's Institute for Black and African Diaspora Research and Engagement (IBADRE), we host symposiums and public lectures, support community-based research, and are building the Rwanda Sustainable Development Learning Exchange — a living laboratory for diaspora engagement, sustainable development, and global citizenship.

The Learning Exchange 2027
Learning from Rwanda — the international symposium on transitional justice at Simon Fraser University
Learning from Rwanda — the international symposium on transitional justice at Simon Fraser University
Community Dialogue

Symposiums, public conversations and learning events.

Our partnership with Hogan's Alley Society — stewards of Vancouver's historic Black community — co-founded the Remember Rwanda 25 Legacy Project in 2019, connecting local Black history with Rwanda's story of remembrance, resilience, and renewal.

Remembering place, building belonging — African youth on a Hogan's Alley walking tour
Remembering place, building belonging — African youth on a Hogan's Alley walking tour
Storytelling & Belonging

Stories connecting migration, identity, community and African perspectives.

A Black History Month conversation at the New Westminster Public Library brought members of the African community together on housing precarity, climate, and belonging — one of the conversations BBR carries into Canadian communities.

BHM 2025 — the story
A Black History Month conversation — New Westminster Public Library, February 2025
A Black History Month conversation — New Westminster Public Library, February 2025
Remember

Remembering Together

Kwibuka 31 brings Rwandans, friends and community members together in Canada to remember the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and reflect on the responsibility of remembrance.

Kwibuka 31 in Vancouver — the candle of remembrance
Kwibuka 31 in Vancouver — the candle of remembrance
Community in pictures

Moments from the Canadian side of the bridge

Dialogue across generations — meeting, listening, learning
Dialogue across generations — meeting, listening, learning
Learning across borders — the Pearson College address
Learning across borders — the Pearson College address
Rwandan culture and craftsmanship with Black and African diaspora communities — Surrey
Rwandan culture and craftsmanship with Black and African diaspora communities — Surrey
The community table — mentorship and relationships
The community table — mentorship and relationships

More moments in the photo gallery

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Be part of the Canadian side of the bridge

Volunteer, attend an event, or bring BBR to your campus.

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