International Refugee & Migration Health Conference

In June 2025, Halifax welcomed more than 600 health professionals, researchers, students, advocates, artists and community leaders for the International Refugee & Migration Health Conference, one of the world’s leading gatherings focused on improving the health and wellbeing of refugees, migrants and forcibly displaced people. The event is hosted by the Society of Refugee Healthcare Providers.

Over three days, attendees explored issues ranging from primary care, mental health and infectious disease to reproductive justice, child and adolescent health, research and health equity. But the impact of the Halifax conference extended well beyond the program itself. The gathering gave rise to the Halifax Declaration, a collaboratively developed call to protect the health, dignity and human rights of displaced people worldwide. Shaped with input from people with lived experience of displacement, the Declaration gave the conversations held in Halifax a lasting international legacy and connected the city’s own history of migration and arrival with an urgent global conversation about equitable care.

Host Committee

The impact of this host committee was substantial. By supporting the 2025 International Refugee & Migration Health Conference, they helped attract international delegates, advance knowledge exchange, and create opportunities for local healthcare providers, researchers, community organizations, and service agencies to engage with peers from across Canada and around the world. The conference aligned strongly with Halifax’s values as a welcoming city and with the broader importance of equity, inclusion, and access to care.

Their work is a clear example of how local champions help turn a conference into something larger than a meeting: a platform for learning, connection, and legacy.