Statelessness Knowledge Platform

We are excited to announce our new project, the Statelessness Knowledge Platform (SKP), a digital resource that centralizes information on statelessness, connects stateless persons with legal professionals, and supports cross-sector collaboration. The Statelessness Knowledge Platform is funded by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Refugee-Led Innovation Fund.

This platform will:

  1. Gather information on barriers to access to justice for stateless persons in Canada;
  2. Enhance stateless persons' awareness of legal procedures and processes;
  3. Facilitate stateless persons' access to legal representation (in three jurisdictions); and
  4. Enhance legal professionals' awareness of legal procedures and processes, and litigation efforts across Canada.

Co-developed with stateless individuals, legal professionals, and educators, the platform will be practical, integrated into legal education, and tailored to lived realities.

By participating in this project, you will directly contribute to enhancing access to justice for stateless persons in Canada. We are seeking participation from stateless persons and legal practitioners in two phases.

Phase 1: Learning from you
Meeting with stateless persons to understand

  1. barriers that stateless persons face in accessing legal services in Canada, and
  2. receive guidance from stateless persons on the design of the online platform and its functionality, membership parameters, and communication tools.
Meeting with legal practitioners to understand


  1. existing knowledge of statelessness and experience with litigation,
  2. what barriers may exist that prevent stateless persons' access to justice in Canada,
  3. what resources exist on statelessness in legal education courses,
  4. whether statelessness is addressed in pro bono work; and
  5. guidance on the design of the knowledge platform and its functionality, membership parameters, and communication tools.
Phase 2: Building, testing, and launch 
Phase 2 involves participating in the implementation of the platform through virtual soft and live launches throughout 2026.

  • After hearing from stateless persons and legal practitioners on ideas for designing the platform, we will build the tool in Spring 2026.
  • We will hold a soft launch of the tool in Summer 2026 and welcome feedback from project participants.
  • We will then make necessary changes to the platform and host a live launch, open to the public, in early fall. We hope to launch the platform in October 2026!

Participants will be able to provide feedback on the platform in multiple stages through open discussion and anonymous surveys. There may be an opportunity to promote the platform with media.

How to Get Involved
If you are interested in participating, please send an email to [email protected].
*For stateless persons to be eligible to participate, you must be an adult residing in Canada and have experienced statelessness, defined as someone who is not considered a national by any state under the operation of its law. You do not have to be currently stateless but must have at some time experienced statelessness.

*For legal practitioners to be eligible to participate, you must work in the legal sector and be licensed to practice law in Canada, and have worked to resolve cases of statelessness, or have worked with clients who have experienced statelessness.


Refugee-Led Innovation Fund

The Statelessness Knowledge Platform is funded by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Refugee-Led Innovation Fund.

The Fund champions the creativity of all displaced and stateless people. It aims to reshape their participation in humanitarian work by ensuring they take centre stage in decisions that affect their lives, leading the identification of needs and the design of innovative solutions.

The Fund provides holistic support – combining financial resources, mentoring, and other expertise – directly to organizations led by forcibly displaced and stateless people, enabling them to design and deliver new interventions with a lasting positive impact on their communities. To learn more about the RLIF visit https://www.unhcr.org/innovation/refugee-led-innovation-fund/.