When Rebaz talks about his work at Rainbow Railroad, it’s clear this isn’t just a job — it’s a continuation of a lifelong commitment to human rights.
“I’m a newcomer who moved to Canada in 2017 to work on Indigenous rights advocacy, and did that for four years before starting to work with newcomers and asylum seekers,” he explains. “Before moving to Canada, I was a lawyer and a human rights activist in Iraq, focusing on ethno-religious minority rights, along with women's rights and legal reforms towards gender parity.”
“This work included LGBTQI+ rights but under different titles, such as ‘Youth Rights,’ to avoid the government's censorship,” he recalls. “For example, in 2012, I led a project that documented the targeting of LGBTQI+ youth in Baghdad in a killing campaign fueled by religious leaders.”
That history informs every part of what he does today.
A Mission That Resonates Deeply
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At Rainbow Railroad, Rebaz serves as Program Officer for Emergency Travel Support and Cash Assistance. His days are anything but predictable.
“On a typical day, I'm meeting with clients, conducting needs assessment, providing financial and non-financial resources, developing relocation plans and backup plans, and preparing the individuals to travel,” he says. “Sometimes my day includes being up at 2 am to support an individual travelling at that time, and other times my entire day is spent looking at a computer researching routes or drafting letters of support.”
The work reminds him of his grassroots activism back home. “What Rainbow Railroad does is very unique, in terms of subverting the system through hands-on actions that change people's lives in a way that we can see and measure clearly,” he says. “In Iraq, I was a part of a grassroots network of activists that helped relocate at-risk LGBTQI+ youth to safety through personal connections. When I came across Rainbow Railroad's Emergency Travel Support program, it resonated a lot with what I did back in Iraq, and why I did it.”
One moment that solidified his commitment was the crackdown on LGBTQI+ communities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in 2021. “My inability to contribute to the struggle there was my motivation to join Rainbow Railroad, hoping to channel that energy to support vulnerable members of the LGBTQI+ community on this side,” he explains.
The Rewards and Challenges of Emergency Support
The work is both rewarding and heartbreaking. “When a client arrives at a country where they aren't afraid of being who they are and share their joy with me,” he says, “that’s the most rewarding aspect of my role.”
But the obstacles can be daunting. “The constant erosion of LGBTQI+ rights coincides with the increased limitations of who we can relocate and to where, putting the struggle for LGBTQI+ in perspective within the larger wave of erosion of rights,” he says. “The right to claim asylum is becoming all but inaccessible with the multitude of roadblocks constantly being erected by the Global North governments, and that includes the shift in attitude at home when it comes to Canadian society's acceptance of immigrants and asylum seekers.”
On the hardest days, he admits, the failures weigh heavily. “The most challenging part of my role? When a travel plan that I've been working on for months fails.”
What keeps him going is a mantra he carries with him: “If I'm not contributing to the solution, then I'm a part of the problem.”
Grounded in Strength and Balance
For Rebaz, inspiration often comes from seeing others succeed. “Reading or hearing about stories of success,” he says, is what fuels him.
Outside of work, he turns to the outdoors and creative pursuits to recharge: “Camping, hiking, trail running and basically anything outdoors” brings him joy. He also admits with a smile: “I do leatherwork when I have free time, and I'm not half-bad at it.”
Why Support Matters
For supporters and donors, Rebaz has a clear message: “While donating to any social justice cause contributes to making the world a better place on a general level, your donation to Rainbow Railroad changes the lives of each person we support directly and immediately. You can help us continue making the world a better place, one person at a time.”
And if there’s one thing he wishes more people understood about this work, it’s that numbers only tell part of the story. “Every case we work on is unique; each person has different needs and wishes, and deals with a different set of challenges and complications, and the client’s strength is sometimes the main factor to make a relocation attempt successful.”
Stories like Rebaz’s show that our work is sustained by compassion in action. Whether you give your time, your voice, or your resources, you can help us create more pathways to safety for LGBTQI+ people around the world.