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Ruth Bonneville Winnipeg Free Press LOCAL STDUP - Yazidi Clothing drive organizer, Michel Aziza, (centre, green shirt) and a large group of members of the Jewish and Christian community, volunteer their time going through hundreds of bags of clothing and housewares collected by the Jewish community for new Yazidi refugee arrivals Thursday at at 134 Plaza Drive. The drive was organized by the Jewish Outreach Initiative Network (JOIN). Between 40 and 50 Yazidi refugee families coming to Winnipeg through a Family Reunification Program will be able to collect what they need to start their new life in Winnipeg from the sorted supplies next week. More info: These new families will be joining relatives who either came to Winnipeg through the Jewish Community led Operation Ezra project or through Federal Government sponsorship in 2016/2017. The new families all come from refugee camps in Iraq where they have lived since 2014. Most are young families with many young children who were not only born in camps but have had little to no schooling since birth. Families started to come in October 2025 and approximately 16 families are already in Winnipeg. An additional 20-30 families are expected in the first half of 2026. The total number expected is approx. 250 individuals of which a minimum of 150 will be children.