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Welcoming newcomers
By Melba Hanson
It is ‘ready, set, go’ for Welcoming Communities partners in Cranbrook and Kimberley.
The Columbia Basin Alliance for Literacy (CBAL) is coordinating a number of projects in the two communities to welcome immigrants and ease their integration.
This 15-month project is made possible through funding from the Federal Government of Canada and in partnership with Immigrant Integration Branch of the BC Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training and the Minister Responsible for Labour.
Welcoming Communities involves a strategic collaboration of community stakeholders, businesses, non-profit organizations and service providers with a mutual passion and belief in removing barriers to social and economic inclusion for new immigrants. This collaboration was organized to enhance Cranbrook and Kimberley’s social and economic prosperity by strengthening our capacity to attract, recruit and retain internationally trained new immigrants who chose this region as their home.
Immigrant Welcome Centres will operate in communities, providing settlement services information and support.
Kimberley’s is located at the Kimberley Public Library and is open. For more information about these services contact Pam at 250-427-6027 or e-mail at [email protected].
Cranbrook’s will be opening in July at 19, 9th Avenue South. A Kimberley-based videographer will be creating a short video documenting the immigrant experience in our region.
The public libraries in both Cranbrook and Kimberley will each put on a number of events in collaboration with various community partners to offer new immigrants the opportunity to meet with other citizens and groups to discover what the communities have to offer. The events will provide the new immigrants an opportunity to network, provide access to information, services and activities.
Cranbrook’s Food Action Committee will be offering new immigrants (as well as long term residents) a series of workshops on gardening at the Cranbrook Public Produce Garden. They are collaborating with the Salvation Army’s Friends in the Kitchen Project.
Wildsight in Kimberley will be doing similar gardening workshops at Rita’s Garden and dovetailing this with Kimberley’s Community Kitchen Project.
Big Brothers and Big Sisters is coordinating a Family Mentoring Project to provide new immigrants to the Cranbrook and Kimberley area the opportunity to connect with community members who will assist them in finding community resources and access to recreational connections.
Success by Six will be involved by concentrating on welcoming new families with young children. Early Childhood Educators, caregivers and other early leaning professionals will benefit from the workshops planned on how to best serve this segment of new immigrants.
Despite recent economic uncertainties, the labour market in B.C. continues to face demographic, and economic, challenges due to an aging workforce and a competitive job market which means there is an increasing need for internationally trained individuals to fulfill market and social demands.
On the other hand, the challenges faced by the internationally trained individuals immigrating to Canada are often times overwhelming. Despite impressive credentials, new immigrants face higher rates of unemployment as well as under-employment.
Welcoming Communities provides a forum where employers, service providers and other stakeholder groups engage and share innovative tools and resources to promote cultural competence and diversity in their workplaces and tap into new Canadians’ talent. It is CBAL’s belief that an effective strategy to address integration of the immigrants into the community requires the participation of the whole community. Look for the grand openings of the Welcoming Communities Offices in Cranbrook and Kimberley. For more information on the many programs offered by CBAL visit www.cbal.org.
