Tsering Norzom Thonsur

Tsering Thonsur was born in India to Tibetan parents who fled their home following China’s occupation of Tibet in 1949. Although a Tibetan by origin, Tsering has never been to Tibet and can call neither Tibet nor India her country. She identifies her situation as a “stateless person” who found a new start in Canada after moving to Toronto in 2005. With 20 years of experience working as a social worker and activist in India, Tsering now applies her wealth of knowledge into defending human and refugee rights for Tibetans and all refugees. Tsering currently works as manager of the Settlement Program at Parkdale Intercultural Association, an agency funded by the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) which serves refugees and new immigrants.

Tsering received her Master of Political Science from India and Master of Social Work from University of Windsor, Canada. She has volunteered as a Board member with the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, South Asian Women’s Centre, Parkdale Community Health Centre and Community Engagement Councillor with St. Joseph’s Health Centre, Toronto.

With responsibilities that include resettlement support, settlement planning, counselling and advocating for accessible services to newcomers and refugees, Tsering joins RAN Canada with a history of lived experience and being uprooted as a “stateless person”. She has worked with thousands of refugees and families in Toronto and supported their refugee applications, resettlement processes, and pathways to immigration and resettlement. Through RAN Canada, she hopes refugee voices can be amplified at the global forums on refugees, during policy and decision-making processes for refugees to set a precedent for all States and non-State stakeholders.. By working on policies that impact both refugees and immigrants alike, she hopes more awareness can be brought to the complexities of family separation and impacts of mental health, statelessness and uprooting and attending to root causes of refugees and displaced persons issues.