Belonging to Canada

Wali Farah, a Canadian immigrant from Somalia, is on the board of directors of the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI) and is manager of the Multicultural Liaison Officer programme within the Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization (OCISO) On Monday I listened to a talk he gave about the work done by this NGO, for whom he has worked for fourteen years.

In 1993 Mr Farah "escaped," as he put it, from Somalia, seeking sanctuary because he decided that he would prefer an education to the use of a gun. But there are no schools in refugee camps, he reminded us. This is one of the reasons why displaced people long to come to a place like Canada.

Even after they get here they still have to undergo a long, tough, mental journey before they can properly belong. How can one develop patriotic feelings towards a country that's not one's own? The OCISO provides programmes for new immigrants that first help them to settle and then help them integrate into our society, using voluntary help from Canadian professionals. For example, civil servants in the business district of town, instead of driving home with the other commuters, sometimes spend an hour after work helping immigrant children tackle their homework at the Library Homework Club on Metcalfe Street. The organisation also helps their parents to understand the Canadian school system and employs around thirty volunteers to help adult immigrants with their English.

A youth project, YOCISO, teaches teenagers life- and leadership skills as they juggle with the two cultures they're immersed in. This project is run by young university graduates. There's a programme that administers a scholarship fund, rewarding excellence in high schools among immigrant students. Recent winners of the scholarship were from Somalia, El Salvador and the UAE.

Other people work with adult immigrants to help them find work in the new country, apparently with an 80% success rate. That's impressive. A counselling service offers mental health therapy, often necessary where refugees are concerned since many have undergone traumas in war zones in their past life. OCISO advocates for them at their hearings with the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, and generally offers them support.

During his presentation, Mr Farah made the following points rather forcefully:

• Immigrants bring added value to their adopted country as well as taking advantage of it.
• The rule of law and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms are what guides this country.
• New immigrants are sometimes taken aback by the friendliness of government officials here in Canada when they're greeted you with a smile and not asked for bribes. 

He finished with a quotation from one of his own mentors: "Belonging does for human beings what soil does for plants. It nurtures us and enables us to grow, and blossom."