Alberta
The
Strategic Alliance for the Advancement of Immigrant and
Refugee Children and Youth (SAAIRCY)
Things are evolving quite quickly with SAAIRCY, the Strategic
Alliance for the Advancement of Immigrant and Refugee Children
and Youth (SAAIRCY), an Alberta networking collective.
CCICY members who are members of the SAAIRCY include Vanessa
Desa, Antonella Corteses and Marian Rossiter (President
of ATESL).
SAAIRCY recently had a forum in Edmonton on locally relevant issues which appears
to have created some momentum for change on a couple of fronts. SAAIRCY, related
agencies, and local immigrant community leaders are hoping to undertake in
the near future to have the transportation loans of refugees eliminated, that
is, the repayment of the refugee transportation loan, and the very negative
impact that this loan repayment creates for refugee children and youth. This
was the focus of a recent news story from Vancouver:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/12/27/bc-refugeebills.html
A committee is being formed in Edmonton to look at how
we can advocate on making changes on this issue. We have
connected with the Canadian Council for Refugee (CCR) nationally
as well as various provincial bodies (AAISA and ATESL).
CCR has heard through conversations with Citizenship and
Immigration that they are favourable to CCR's position
on eliminating transportation loans. Since their first
meeting a number of potential allies and champions are
already coming forward.
SAAIRCY will be organizing a second Forum - a cultural
community - education sector dialogue.
For more information, please contact:
Antonelly Cortese acortese@mac.com
Vanessa Desa vanessadesa@shaw.ca
Marian Rossiter mrossite@ualberta.ca
British Columbia
First
Call BC Child and Youth Advocacy is a cross-sectoral
coalition of about 80 provincial and regional partner
organizations
in BC, all focused on child and youth issues. We have a
number of partner organizations whose work focuses on immigrant
settlement issues (e.g., MOSAIC, Affiliation of Multicultural
Societies and Service Agencies - AMSSA) and good working
relationships with others such as SUCCESS, Immigrant Services
Society of BC, etc.. We also have "mainstream" organizational
partners like the teachers federation and school trustees
association, social workers, medical health officers and
so on who, of course, have a strong interest in the needs
of immigrant children and youth. First Call can and has
served as a vehicle for immigrant and refugee child, youth
and family issues to be brought forward, particularly in
the area of public policy advocacy. We host regular monthly
meetings, and the agendas for these are open for participants
to raise issues for future coalition work. We are small
in office power, however, -- only 3 staff. I don't know
the full list of people from BC on your list, but we are
happy to play a role as a cross-sectoral regional working
group, though we would need to discuss with the partners
most interested what resources are available among us for
the work to be done. I am not asking you to do anything
about this -- we talk with our local partners regularly.
I just wanted you to know about us, and that we don't necessarily
connect with your whole BC mailing list.
Adrienne Montani,
Provincial Coordinator
First Call BC Child & Youth Advocacy Coalition
Tel: 604-873-8437
Toll free: 1.800.307.1212
F: 604.875-3569
Email: amontani@fsgv.ca
www.firstcallbc.org
Address:
202 - 1193 Kingsway, Vancouver, BC V5V 3C9
Newfoundland
and Labrador
Coalition on Richer Diversity
(CORD)
CORD is an umbrella organization that links interested
parties to find solutions to common immigrant challenges
and overcome retention handicaps.
In March 2007, the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador
announced its first policy on immigration with the aim
to increase the attraction and retention of immigrants
in the province. In order to make a substantial change
in local conditions to meet this challenge, people who
work in a broad range of social and economic institutions
will need new knowledge and skills. The Coalition on Richer
Diversity (CORD), an umbrella group of organizations in
Newfoundland and Labrador with an interest in immigration
matters, has been formed for networking and collaborative
action. CORD aims to maximize the human resources available
for action on immigration matters and focus on issues identified
by a broad range of stakeholders in the community. In less
that a year, CORD has developed a substantial infrastructure
and attracted more than 800 individual members.
See CORD’s
website at http://www.cancord.org/.
One
of CORD's main features is mobilizing action through
Solutions Groups. They
are forums where proactive and energetic community members
come together, where they see a need for raising awareness
to promote causes or issues they feel strongly about. In
the Solutions Groups, individuals search for answers together
and share solutions equally concerning matters of diversity,
immigration and community.
At this early
stage in its development, CORD has created the groups
listed below as formed through several consultations.
These groups may evolve as we work together. Solutions
Group members may come from any background, including but
not limited to: professional associations, government departments,
unions, post-secondary institutions, and immigration and
community service agencies. Cord’s current Solutions
Groups are: Education; Employment; Health; Youth; Community;
Solutions Structuring
The purpose of the Solutions Groups is to improve our
quality of life by building relationships and devising
practical ways to
- Allow people to come together, share ideas and experiences
- Identify current issues, suggest how to overcome barriers
and challenges and develop useful solutions
- Identify and celebrate successes
- Seek out opportunities, evaluate and make recommendations
(Example: Find out what is being done, who is doing it,
what needs to be done, and who can do it)
- Develop strategies to improve (empowering) relationships
between immigrants and long-term residents
- Find innovative ways to increase public awareness.
