Canadian Lutheran World Relief donates archival material to Laurier Archives

April 22, 2022

WATERLOO – Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR) has donated 180 boxes of archival material to the Laurier Archives, located within the Wilfrid Laurier University Library. CLWR is a non-profit organization that provides humanitarian responses to disasters, conflicts and food insecurity; education and skills training; and support to Canadian churches providing refugee resettlement.

The donation, which includes documents, photographs and videos, will support teaching and research about refugee resettlement in Canada, humanitarian programs around the world, the inner workings of non-profit organizations, and Canadian history.

“We are thrilled to receive this generous donation of records documenting the history of CLWR,” said Amanda Oliver, the head of Laurier Archives and Special Collections. “This material will support research in a variety of disciplines at Laurier and beyond.”

CLWR was founded in 1946 to provide support for Europeans displaced by the Second World War. In partnership with the federal government and Catholic, Mennonite and Baptist church agencies, CLWR played a key role in resettling more than 33,000 displaced Europeans, many of whom travelled to Canada on the famed ship the Beaverbrae between 1948 and 1954.

The donated materials also document the resettlement of thousands of Vietnamese people who fled their country during the 1970s, as well as more recent examples, including the resettlement of hundreds of refugees from Syria. Since its beginnings, CLWR has helped tens of thousands of displaced people make a home in Canada.

The donation complements additional holdings in the Laurier Archives and Special Collections on Laurier’s Waterloo campus associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and Martin Luther University College. Laurier holds the largest collection of primary sources related to Lutheranism in Canada.

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