7 February 2025: Remembering Janet Toye, stalwart member of Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network – QARN, and of the Steering Group when she died on 27 January 2025
Janet was active in Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network – QARN from its early days, and a member of Oxford Meeting for many years.
She convened the Oxford Meeting’s Human Rights and Asylum group; a note from 2009 records that Janet will draft a statement summarising our reasons for opposition to the current detention regime. She saw immigration detention as a human rights issue at an early stage.
In 2011 she reported to QARN that a group of 9 or 10 people in Oxford and Headington Local Meetings keep in touch about asylum issues: most are involved in support, visiting, fundraising or campaigning in association with 5 different local organisations. We have face to face contact, an email group, and occasional business meetings. We take asylum and immigration matters to our local business meetings, organise our food collections for destitute asylum seekers, and from time to time hold other events to maintain awareness about asylum issues. Janet played a leading role.
At that time Janet represented QARN on Still Human, Still Here, a national campaign to end destitution among asylum seekers. She kept us up to date with the work of Asylum Matters and forwarded many emails from other relevant campaigning organisations
Janet co-ordinated QARN’s first submission to a parliamentary committee : the 2013 Inquiry into Asylum of the Home Affairs Select Committee.
Trawling through some early emails we see notes from Janet about a Vigil in support of refugees in Oxford city centre in 2016. In that same year she asked that there be an appeal in the LM Sunday notices for more food donations to Asylum Welcome, the local refugee support organisation. She also expressed concern about cuts to services for the homeless in Oxford. The Meeting continues to make food donations and provide financial support to organisations supporting refugees and those experiencing homelessness.
She wrote to MPs and encouraged others to do so.
Janet and her husband John moved to Cambridge to be nearer family and in 2020 Janet wrote: I am considering putting to Jesus Lane’s LM the proposition that we take to Area Meeting a suggestion that each LM finds a person to join QARN in order to keep informed about letters that QARN and other campaigning groups with the request that people write to their MPS.
John died in 2021.
In February 2022 Janet drew our attention to the new Rainbow Migration Campaign: No Pride in Detention and suggested that you can help with the launch by sharing Rainbow Migration’s posts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram; and stay tuned for more updates.
Janet was principled, committed and compassionate. She was also good company.
Recently Janet offered to become a member of the QARN Steering Group, and she began her period of service in January 2024. Poor health made it difficult for her to attend meetings.
We shall miss her, and we give thanks for her involvement with QARN.
Prepared by members of QARN who had known and worked with Janet,
on behalf of the QARN Steering Group