Imagine communicating with someone and trying to set up a date or a meeting 
or a hangout, and instead of meeting that person you are met 
by an armed militia of individuals.
They put a bag on your head and they throw you in the trunk of a car 
and they take you to a facility.
Rainbow Railroad received reports in April. 
What appeared to be happening was that there was a group of 
people who were being instantly rounded up by the state in Chechnya. 
The purpose was twofold: one, to get more names, 
but secondly, to publicly shame and out them.
So before they were released, they would 
bring family members, usually senior elders, and 
ask the family what they were going to do. 
The expectation is that family members,
because of the shame that these individuals
put on their family, their community, 
must punish them
—and in many instances, that could mean death. 
And so people managed to flee. 
And they learned that there was somewhere that they could go.
We realized that we were well-positioned,
as one of the few, if only,
organizations in the world that does 
this direct, emergency triage for
LGBTQ+ individuals to 
partner with the Russian LGBT Network.
And we decided to form a partnership where we
would help to evacuate anyone that  
fled to Russia that was willing to leave the country. 
What we do is we talk to individuals,
we assess their situation, 
we verify their case, 
we establish what is the best route for safety
for that person and then ultimately we
 buy the plane ticket.
And so when we went to the Canadian government,
I made it very clear to them that we 
wanted them to intervene in this crisis,
but Canada’s policy as it stands is inadequate.
We need a more robust policy that is proactive,
that’s a partnership with civil society 
 like our group and other groups across the country that
are trying to sponsor individuals. 
We expect that this is the beginning
—that now that the country and world understands
what the government is able to do,
we expect that this to continue. 
So the public can still let
—whether it’s the foreign affairs minister 
or the minister of immigration—
know that they want Canada 
to be a leader and accept more 
individuals who are facing persecution. 
