Objectives
- To promote Karen language literacy, traditional knowledge, and environmental awareness.
- To promote Karen cultural music, dancing and poetry.
- To engage in youth physical education and networking.
- To promote women’s traditional handicrafts.
- To promote capacity-building car practice driving.
- To advocate our work through media.
- To form a volunteer club to help needy Karen People.
- To do fundraising activities for organization development.
Motto
- Marching forward with the spirit of brotherhood toward cultural diversity.
Vision
- Karen Community of Regina is leading in creating a place to learn its language literacy and traditions.
Karen Community of Regina (KCR) is an organization representing the Karen people of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, who came from Thai-Burma Boarder Refugee camp to build their better life in Canada. It is estimated that over 600 Karen people live in Regina. The purpose of our organization is to promote Karen language literacy, traditional handicrafts, physical education, and cultural values to younger generations, thus ensuring that the Karen identity in Canada will not be lost.
The Karen people are one of the indigenous peoples from Thailand and Burma/Myanmar, in Southeast Asia. The majority of them, which estimated up 7 million live in Burma. However, after almost 70 years of civil war in Burma, hundreds of thousands of Karen people had fled to Thailand and became refugees, while another half a million became internally displaced persons (IDPs) within Burma. This long-term displacement had resulted in the loss of traditional knowledge, cultural artifacts, and quality of life. Now that we are safely in Canada, our organization aims to revitalize our Karen language literacy traditional dancing, music, and traditional handcraft.
Karen Community of Regina 