Twenty newcomer groups form umbrella organization

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This article was published 18/06/2018 (2137 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Newcomer groups that help make Manitoba a friendly place for immigrants and refugees are joining forces.

The Ethnocultural Council of Manitoba launches today at the South Sudanese Community Centre in Winnipeg.

“When more people come together, we become stronger,” said Reuben Garang, a member of the organizing committee.

The council — which has 20 members so far including Syrians, Yazidis, Congolese, Eritreans, Iraqis and Colombians — has different religious and social needs as well as shared challenges and experiences, he said.

“Many refugees, when they get here, feel a sense of isolation,” said Abdikheir Ahmed, director of Immigration Partnership Winnipeg. “They find the best place to connect is with their own community.” Eighty per cent of the jobs people get are through their ethnocultural communities, said Ahmed whose federally-funded agency is helping to set up the council.

“If we get all these voices together, there’s strength in numbers and in learning from each other and supporting each other.” Ahmed said Manitoba has an estimated 100 ethnocultural communities and all are welcome.

The plan is to create ethnic hubs for resources, to share ideas and have a voice when it comes to civic matters, settlement and integration of newcomers. One of the priorities they’re preparing to speak up about is the need for a low-income transit pass, said Ahmed.

The bulk of what Manitoba’s ethnocultural groups do, however, is informal, voluntary, behind-the-scenes settlement work, said Garang, who came to Canada 14 years ago as a refugee from South Sudan and offered an example.

“You get a call at night by a new member of the community who doesn’t know the language. All the offices are closed and they need to go to the hospital or something has happened at night,” said Garang, who knows from first-hand experience.

“That’s the work that ethnocultural communities do that’s ongoing. It’s based on connections and unconditional. It’s not formalized and not ‘eight to four’,” said Garang, a co-ordinator at Immigration Partnership Winnipeg.

Manitoba is renowned for its successful resettlement services but users need to be aware of them to access them, said Garang. “There are barriers, including a lack of information, he said. “People who are here may not know where Welcome Place is,” he said, referring to the Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council, the largest resettlement service agency for government-assisted refugees in the province. Many resettlement services are available only during regular business hours and newcomer needs are 24-7, said Garang.

“They need someone who understands where you buy food from your country — simple things that are very important in people’s day-to-day lives,” said Garang. “Some are from communities that are very conservative. Here, they’re in a new culture and we learn from each other about the values that are needed in our new country,” he said. Community members need to be equipped to promote cultural diversity, gender equality and tolerance, said Garang.

“Money’s not the thing,” he said. “We need to mobilize what they need — and they need information and documents they can refer to,” he said.

The council, its terms of reference say, has an unlimited number of members made up of representatives of ethnocultural groups that signed a memorandum of understanding in order to join. An 11-member operating committee will “take action and lead discussions on issues identified as the short and long term priorities,” it said. Workshops will be held every year to set priorities for the year ahead.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca