WELCOME TO CANADA
Pg. 1 Regional Connections News Article Pg. 5 Helpful Hints for Newcomers Pg. 7 Rules at the Workplace Pg. 8 Racism in our Community
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Table of Contents Pg. 2 Table of Contents Pg. 3 Regional Connections News Article Pg. 4 Helpful Hints For Welcoming Newcomers Pg. 5 How to Adapt to New Culture Pg. 6 Multicultural Diversity is Not Racial Equality Pg. 7 Rules at the Workplace Pg. 8 Racism in Our Community Pg. 9 Letter to the Editor Pg. 11 Entertainment
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Regional Connections: Newly Opened Immigrant Service Located in Winkler Grace Toews Regional Connections, a local immigrant service, is here to help welcome and teach newcomers the culture and language of Manitoba. They offer classes that teach adults English, settlement, employment, and community connections. They have been able to successfully reach 133 different cultures and counting. Steve Reynolds, the manager of Regional Connections here in Winkler, he hires and connects all the staff to the people who need them. He also runs the entire program and makes sure that every program has sufficient staff to make the program run smoothly. After asking him how Regional Connections has positively impacted our community, he gave a great response describing how he has seen the impact on the community by bringing more diverse food and culture to a previously very quiet, small community. Steve Reynolds says, “We’ve definitely seen the impact of increasing diversity in newcomer arrivals to the area”. They use many different programs through schools and set up lots of different community events. Reynolds explains what they have been doing lately: “We’ve been running online Conversation Groups in Zoom. During July and August, we ran Conversation Groups in the park with social distancing. Last week we had some online information sessions for “Getting Ready for Winter.” Later this week we have a “Business Start Up” webinar for entrepreneurs.” COVID-19 has affected their services greatly. Reynolds says, “We are doing more online and remote (by phone or video call) services than ever before”. This has improved their reach to people from different cities that are not able to make the drive to town. Mental health is a huge worry for the newcomers, as they are often viewed as people who might’ve brought COVID into our community. But the newcomers that live here have been here before COVID-19 was around. Protecting the newcomers and making sure they feel welcome has been a newly added aspect of Regional Connections. Reynolds explains how they are reaching children that have come with families and are being introduced to the school system. ”We do have a Settlement Workers In Schools (SWIS) program that does not run classes but does support school-aged newcomers in the school system. This program is starting in GVSD this month and is already running in BLSD and WSD.” They have been finding ways to allow students to be involved in welcoming newcomers into our community. They have students doing practicum in their classrooms as well as will be opening a new volunteer program in GVSD schools. Once the SWIS program is up and running in GVSD there will be very easy ways for students to help other students their age get involved in their mission to make the community more welcoming and comfortable to newcomers. Steve recommends, “Help out by volunteering here at Regional Connections, but also if you have a newcomer neighbor or coworker, just be friendly and say hi. Get to know them. Often newcomers are interested in meeting their new neighbors but may not be sure how to take initiative in a culturally appropriate way or may not be confident in their English skills. Being friendly and welcoming crosses many cultural differences.” 3
Why Does You Community Need Newcomers? To generate more trade and commerce in your community • To help keep the school and health care facilities open/viable • To create businesses and help generate wealth in the community • To fill jobs • To pay taxes • To keep your community progressive and vibrant (new ideas, new skills, new energy) • To increase pool of volunteers • To provide new leadership As consumers, they help to sustain the viability of your community •
Tips for Long Time Residents to Meet and Get to Know Newcomers: •
Ask questions and listen, then act upon the new information you have gathered • Be open minded about other cultures, new ideas, new approaches and new ways of doing things. Be willing and interested in incorporating new things into your community to create a welcoming, all inclusive community for everyone to live, play and work. • Add new programs and events based on newcomers’ culture and/or experiences • Bring a small gift of homemade food to the home of a newcomer, introduce yourself and offer to help if and when the newcomer or family has any questions about the community Be assertive and take the first step to welcome newcomers and offer assistance (Don’t wait for them to approach you)
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Tips for Newcomers to Meet and Get to Know Long Time Residents of the Community: •
Learn about and participate in popular community events; join community groups; take part in some sport or popular recreation activity • Find out about some of the local community groups and projects…volunteer to help with a community event or project • Observe the community for a few months during your initial orientation to the community…then decide where you can get involved/help out • Visit the local library often. Read as much as you can to improve English skills, information about the community and cultural awareness Ask questions and listen…be willing to adopt a new culture and lifestyle
Go to Regional Connections Website Regional Connections – Immigrant Services Click on Downloads Then the Welcome to Canada Handbook for Newcomers
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Multicultural Diversity is Not Racial Equality Khadijah Kanji sept.23 2020
Multiculturalism encourages Canadians to take pride in diversity, as if the mere coexistence of differently coloured bodies implies the equality of those differently-coloured bodies. Yet, Toronto is both the most multicultural city in Canada and home to the country's largest racial income gap, wherein the economic disparities between whites and non-whites are more pronounced than in any other region in the country. The temptation to use "ethnic coexistence" as a metric for anti-racism emanates from the belief that racism is primarily an act of extermination and that, therefore, the presence of racial heterogeneity must represent its opposite. Hage attributes this widespread mis-characterization to the imaginative hold of the Holocaust in defining racial violence. As he argues, "tolerant racism" has a much more pervasive history. Indeed, writes Hage, "we are yet to hear of the slave owner who wanted Blacks to 'go home.'" Today, non-white people are overrepresented in retail jobs -- those that are physically demanding and poorly paid. In this context, physical proximity is a precondition for racial exploitation -- as, by definition, (nonwhite) retail workers need to live and work in the vicinity of the (white) customers they serve. For temporary migrant farm workers and caregivers, physical proximity to their (white) employers is a mechanism of their racial exploitation. Migrant labourers are legally and practically restricted in their mobility, which limits their capacity to organize collectively for their rights.
Black men are well-represented in professional sports -- literally occupying white homes via the television screen. They are also murdered in plain sight by police officers, and incarcerated en masse for "crimes" equally prevalent among white people. For Black men, physical proximity is a paradoxical feature of their racial exploitation -- their talent consumed, while their humanity is discounted. Physical proximity doesn't preclude or even undermine economic, political and social distance. Multiculturalist discourse just obscures this -- by attributing a significance to "diversity" that is not borne out by 6
Rules of the Workplace Kristle Calisto-Tavares
There are lots of different kinds of rules that you should know about as a newcomer to Canada. Some rules are: Unwritten Rules This means that there are certain values, behaviors and ways of communicating that are simply accepted and used by everyone in Canadian society. For example, when you get onto an elevator, you will notice that there is an unwritten rule that everyone should look up at the floor numbers as they change, rather than look at one another. When you see a closed door to an office, there is an unwritten rule that you should knock on the door. You are asking for permission to enter rather than simply turning the handle and going in. Written Rules These are often policies and procedures written on paper by a company or organization. Company rules help make and keep good working conditions. They help everyone understand their work responsibilities. These are usually different for each workplace. For example, these would include rules about sick leave and employee benefits. Government Rules In Canada, Both the Parliament of Canada and the Manitoba Legislature can make labor laws. These are the kinds of rules that are binding or required and everyone must follow.
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Racism in Our Community Grace Toews November 10, 2020 Racism is a big word, it intimidates many people these days. Most people around here don’t see it as anything that is active in our community. It seems almost like something that exists far away and doesn’t affect us. But, it affects our community in a big way and we need to do our part to stop it. Even though we all find ways to sugar coat it and make it seem like it does not affect us. I’m sure we all have noticed the extreme growing number of cultures, and how hard it is to always feel like welcoming them. Sometimes it’s easier to go about your day and not go the extra length to make someone else feel accepted. “10 Ideas Daily Article, an article written with many tips on how to welcome newcomers to local areas,” recommends to “work with those of different races-experience how we are the same”. What would happen if we all viewed everyone the same way? Ignoring culture or differences in appearance? Would the world run smoother? Would it release chaos because trying to keep everything fair is impossible? Keeping our eyes from viewing people as what they look like and focusing more on who they are, may strengthen our community and bring us all together. This might sound like an extreme cliché, but if we all looked and acted the same the world would be extremely monotone and boring. Welcoming people of different cultures can change the world. It can add so much color and light to world if we can all love one another and treat everyone the way we would like to be treated. COVID-19 has brought up lots of judgmental glares and viewing people in terrible ways because of their skin color or ethnic background. This idea of “where COVID-19 came from” doesn’t give anyone permission to stay a bit further away or not talk to those from other countries. We need to instead imagine how hard this is for them. They might have family back home that is dying because of something we haven’t really felt yet. We need to stop being afraid and show more love for those that don’t feel at home here yet. We want to encourage more people to come here and not push them away. We often find ourselves fearing people from other countries cause of what they bring with them. With COVID-19, we cannot fear people from other countries and put them out as the reason it is here. We don’t know how long they have lived here. Often, they have lived here for their whole lives. “Be United, a website with many great resources to help understand how racism affects people” explains how racism can affect people personally. It causes them to “view themselves less worthy than they truly are” We must act and make our community safe and welcoming for those from other countries. Let’s not push them away but rather deepen our knowledge of other cultures and broaden our community’s spectrum of cultures. We can work together and make this all possible. We want to make our community one of diversity and kindness, not of discrimination and negativity. 8
Letter: Racism in Our Community November 18, 2020
To the Editor: I recently read the article called “Racism in Our Community” and I agree the views on racism displayed in the article. The local author talks about how here in Winkler, we don’t notice racism too much or see it active in the community and that it moves “under the radar” and affects those we may not even have met. As a result of the growing amount of other cultures in our community, many of us may find it hard to welcome them, especially now during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of hearing conspiracies related to the coronavirus on the news, we associate people from greatly affected countries with being the
source of the virus here. As it says in the article, we need to think of how tough it is on those people. They could have family struggling because of this virus and we haven’t been hit very hard with it. We need to put aside our fear and judgement and treat them as the wonderful people that they are. We can even go the extra mile and make an effort to treat people from different ethnic backgrounds and countries with kindness and respect. Right now, those things might not be something they receive on a regular basis, and that is hard to live with. We want to make our community one of diversity, respect, and kindness, not of discrimination.
Staff From Regional Connections My name is Mariyam. I am a Settlement Worker in Schools (SWIS) at Regional Connections and I can say that I really feel at home here. I work in the Morden office where the atmosphere is very warm and hospitable, you'll notice this as soon as you enter the building! There are so many different people who I meet everyday here, but the most interesting ones are the kids who I work with majority of my time. They are my little snowflakes, nobody is the same. That is why my job can never be routine. As an immigrant, I know how difficult it can be to start a "new life" in Canada, so I am very happy to be useful and help people in this direction every day!
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Maple Candy Ingredients Vegetable oil, for the pan and spoon 2 cups pure maple syrup
Directions
1. Line the bottom and sides of a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper; brush the parchment with vegeta the maple syrup to a boil in a large saucepan over medium heat, then reduce the heat to medium low. Dip the b spoon in vegetable oil and run it over the top of the foam to help it subside. Increase the heat to medium and co ing until a candy thermometer registers 246 degrees F, 25 to 30 minutes. Pour the syrup into a heatproof bowl a minutes. 2. Beat the syrup with a mixer on medium-low speed until it starts to lighten in color and turn opaque, 30 seco nute. Pour into the prepared pan and spread with an offset spatula; let cool completely, about 1 hour. Lift out of 11