The Moose Jaw Multicultural Council held an open house on Sept. 18 for the first time since 2007, and a large crowd of Moose Jaw residents attended to learn more about the organization and what it does.
Stefanie Palmer, executive director at MJMCC, found the turnout was better than expected and was glad to see people taking an interest in the organization.
“People don't realize the depth and breadth of services that we do offer,” said Palmer. “We just want to make sure that the community knows what it is we do and why we're here, and what we stand for.”
As a federally-funded organization, the MJMCC works with permanent residents to settle them comfortably and successfully into their new lives here. Settlement workers and interpreters are the first faces that new residents see when they exit the plane onto Canadian soil.
The MJMCC begins the process with the six-week Resettlement Assistance Program, which helps take care of immediate needs: government documents, healthcare checkups, locating housing, collecting clothing and furniture, and other basic information.
Next, new residents are directed to Settlement Services, whose goal is to provide supports that will allow new residents to become confident and independent as they adjust to a new home.
This stage of the process covers a ton of information. New residents work their way through the LINC program, where they learn literacy skills like speaking, reading, writing and listening to English.
Settlement workers run informational sessions on all of the new aspects of life that may be unfamiliar: how to deal with cold weather, where to access services in the city, how to handle finances, and even how to use technology.
Settlement Workers in Schools (SWIS) assist students and families while they integrate into a new school system and are navigating things like extracurricular programs and student-led conferences.
Employment Services helps new residents explore their opportunities for work, beginning with things like how to write a resume, what employers expect, and what rights employees have.
The Community Connections department works on alleviating the social isolation that comes from being in a new country, by organizing programs and workshops to connect with the community.
A newly launched mentorship program, Connect, is meant to help new residents learn more about the culture and community through a one-on-one connection.
The Newcomer Welcome Centre works alongside the MJMCC, with the main difference being that the centre is provincially-funded and offers services for temporary residents — like international students or workers — and naturalized citizens.
New residents can apply for a program to take their driver’s training and obtain a Class 5 license, and the Newcomer Centre is open for assistance with a number of tasks — like filling out forms or trying to locate services in the city.
The centre is even able to help new residents obtain Canadian accreditation in their field of expertise, like medicine or engineering, and can provide interpreters and translators in almost any language.
The Newcomer Centre also offers access to needed technologies like computers and printers, among a number of other things. They serve as the ongoing support system for all newcomers, with their doors open to any and all questions.
To close out the presentation, settlement worker Ahmad Alkhaldi told his story of coming to Canada with his family as Syrian refugees in 2016. His family was greeted by Jaella Wiebe, settlement team lead, and Hatem Abdo, translator and settlement worker from MJMCC.
“I was very pleased that there was someone there who speaks Arabic and someone who was taking care of me and my family,” said Alkhaldi. “You can’t imagine how difficult it is, being in a foreign country, not knowing the language or where to go, what to do.”
Now, Alkhaldi works at the MJMCC as a settlement worker himself, and he finds it incredibly rewarding.
“Doing the same services that I was given, for newcomers, it's heartwarming that you can do this for people who really need those services,” he said.
Bringing back the open house was the endeavor of two settlement workers with the MJMCC, Monica Chowns and Yvette Mitchell, who felt that it could answer some of the questions that MJMCC members receive extremely often.
The MJMCC is expecting 60 new clients to utilize their settlement program this year, with three families already arriving throughout the month of September. Last year, the MJMCC assisted 57 refugees in settling in Canada, and the Newcomer Centre saw 180 new clients and 333 returning clients.
Questions about immigration settlement and services can always be directed towards the Newcomer Welcome Centre either by stopping in during business hours or calling 1 (306) 692-6892, or to the MJMCC at 1 (306) 693-4677.
Both entities welcome volunteers for any of their programs.
