Alone
in Canada: 21 Ways to Make it Better
Free Copy Available & Book Launch April 24
Most of us find it hard to adjust when we move to a new city. We have to
find a place to live, look for work and make new friends. Sometimes we feel
excited about the move and all the great things we hope will happen. Other
times we wonder if the move was worth it all. This is exactly how many
newcomers feel when they arrive in Canada.
Imagine what it is like coming to a country where you don't know anyone and
you don't speak the language. You are alone - surrounded by strangers in a
strange land. All the things that you took for granted - like your family
and your profession - you had to leave behind in your home country. Coming
to Canada means staring all over again. We all know that this is not easy
to do.
Citizenship
and Immigration Canada (CIC) knows how hard it can be for single
newcomers to Ontario. That is why they sponsored a book to help them. The
book is called 'Alone in Canada: 21 Ways to Make it Better.' The Centre for
Addiction and Mental Health managed the CIC contract and did the research
for the book.
In the book, newcomers share tips on learning to live in a new culture.
They talk about volunteering. Not only to make friends, but also to gain
that elusive 'Canadian experience.' Without this experience many newcomers
find it difficult to get a job.
The newcomers talk about how to cheer yourself up when you are feeling
lonely. Some go for long walks, others hang out at the library, and a few
write letters or journals.
And when things go well, such as a refugee hearing, finding a friend or a
job, the newcomers celebrate these successes. One newcomer celebrates by
eating with friends. He knows most of the all-you-can-eat restaurants and
the cafés that serve breakfast all day.
To get a free copy of the book contact the Centre for Addiction and Mental
Health, telephone 1-800-661-1111 or in Toronto 416-595-6059. Or by email at marketing@camh.net . Web site: www.camh.net
The book will be launched on April 24, 2000 at 11:00 a.m. It will be at the
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 12th floor, 250 College Street,
Toronto.
The first
keynote speaker will be Dr. Morton Beiser, the David Crombie
Professor of Cultural Pluralism and Health at the University of Toronto and
the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Dr. Beiser directs the Culture,
Community, and Health Studies program, which carries out research concerning the health
and well-being of immigrants and refugees in Canada. He is also the director of CERIS, the
Toronto Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement. Dr. Beiser is
principal investigator for the project.
The second keynote speaker will be Katherine Babiuk, Program Consultant,
Ontario Administration of Settlement and Integration Services, Citizenship
and Immigration Canada.
For more information, call Laura Simich at 416-535-8501 x6421.
___________________________________________________________________
CHWN
calls for submission
The CHWN
Canadian women's health network newsletter is looking for contributions for Spring/ Summer
2001, Part 2: issue on Women's Health and Diversity. The focus of Part 2 is Aboriginal
women, women with disabilities, and lesbian, bi and transgender women.
Maximum contribution size is 1000 words. Accompanying photographs are always welcome. If
someone is interested in making a submission, they should contact Lynette D'anna as soon
as possible. Deadline for contributions is 15 April. The theme of the issue is Women's
Health and Diveristy.
Send submission to CHWN newsletter attention:
Lynnette D'anna
Communication Coordinator
The Canadian Women's Health Network
Tel/tél. : (204) 942-5500
Fax/téléc. : (204) 989-2355
e-mail : newslet@pop.pangea.ca
____________________________________________________________________
CELEBRATING REFUGEE RIGHTS DAY - 2001
When: WEDNESDAY
APRIL 4, 2001
Where:
Metro Hall, 55 John St., Toronto, ON (West of St. Andrew Subway Station)
Setup of
displays -- 10:15 a.m.
Morning
Ceremonies and Keynote Address (Rotunda Lobby Area)
11:00
a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
Lunch
Break: 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. (food court nearby)
2
Afternoon Workshops -- 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Room # 308
For more
information call: Mohamed Ahmed at 416-363-1066 x34 or to RESERVE YOUR DISPLAY TABLE call:
Claire at: 416-588-1612.
Participating
Agencies: Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture, Catholic Cross Cultural Services, City
of Toronto, Eelam Tamil Information Centre of Toronto, OCASI, Toronto Refugee Affairs
Council, Working Group on Refugee Resettlement.
____________________________________________________________________
The Bell
Canada Welfare Research Unit at the Centre for Applied Social Research, Faculty of Social
Work is pleased to announce: "A Series of Seminars"
starting
FEBRUARY - MAY 2001, 12:30 P.M. -1:30 P.M. to be held at 246 Bloor St. West, Room 548,
Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto
APRIL 4,
2001 -- Elsa Marziali, Ph.D, Pilot Study of Maltreating Caregivers with Severe Personality
Problems
MAY 2,
2001 -- T.B.A
Please
come and participate in these very informative sessions. Everyone is welcome!
For
further information please contact Barb Fallon at 416-978-2527 or email:
<barbara.fallon@utoronto.ca>
____________________________________________________________________
HIV/AIDS
AND IMMIGRANT/REFUGEE SKILLS BUILDING FORUM
On APRIL
5, 2001, a one day skills building event will explore ways to improve access to services
for immigrants and refugees at risk for or affected by HIV/AIDS. It will be held at
Trinity St. Paul’s United Church, 427 Bloor Street West in Toronto.
Co-sponsored
by twenty agencies, including OCASI, participants attending the workshop will:
*build
skills by sharing information and resources related to HIV/AIDS, immigration, and
refugee-settlement work with individuals from both sectors and people living with HIV/AIDS
*network and build partnerships among HIV/AIDS organizations and immigrant organization,
and *develop strategies for effective programming and social policy.
Cost:
Free. To download the registration form visit: http://www.ocasi.org
For more
information please Dino Zuccarini, Forum Coodinator by email <sdsa@sympatico.ca> or
telephone at (416) 926-9611.
ReelWorld
Film Festival
The
ReelWorld Film Festival APRIL 5-9, will screen over a 100 feature films, documentaries,
shorts, animations and music videos created by racially and culturally diverse film and
video makers from Canada and around the world. AMC Theatres, Kennedy Commons (Kennedy
& Hwy. 401), will host ReelWorld Film Festival 2001.
Screenings:
Over 100 Feature Films, Documentaries, Shorts, Animations and Music Videos.
For
information, contact the ReelWorld Office at 416-598-7933 or email us at
<info@reelworldfilmfest.com>. For a complete festival schedule visit us online at:
www.reelworldfilmfest.com
IMMIGRATION
AND THE TORONTO FRANCOPHONE COMMUNITY
Research
on the topic of immigration and the Toronto Francophone community will be presented at
OISE/University of Toronto (presentation and discussion in French):
WEDNESDAY
APRIL 25, 5:00 P.M. to 6:30 P.M.
This
research has been conducted by the CENTRE DE RECHERCHES EN EDUCATION FRANCO-ONTARIENNE
with the support of a Major Research Initiatives (MRI) grant from CERIS.
The
research team included Adrienne Chambon, Monica Heller, Fasal Kanoute, Normand Labrie,
Amal Madibbo, John Maury and Meuni Malubungi.
Look for
the full report from this research coming soon to the CERIS website!
FORUM:
IMPROVING ACCESS TO OHIP COVERAGE FOR CANADIAN CHILDREN OF PARENTS WITHOUT LEGAL STATUS.
Currently
many Canadian-born children whose parents are without status in Canada are denied Ontario
Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) coverage. Others have been granted OHIP following the
intervention of community advocates. To address this issue, Access Alliance Multicultural
Community Health Centre, Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO) and the Ontario Council
of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI) are holding a forum on this issue.
TUESDAY
MAY 1, 2001, 8:30 A.M. to 1:00 P.M.
At Metro
Hall, 55 John Street, Room 308-309
Through
presentations by legal experts and community workers, and facilitated small and large
group discussions, participants will :
*learn
about the legislation and how it is interpreted *learn about the individual advocacy
strategies that are being used to address barriers to access *come up with systematic
advocacy strategies and an implementation plan *pick up CLEO’s new pamphlet on the
issue.
This ½
day session will be of interest to individuals providing services to immigrants and
refugees and individuals interested in systemic advocacy initiatives to support public
policy change.
Space is
limited. Interested individuals must pre-register by April 9, 2001. For more information,
please contact Carolina Berinstein at (416) 324-8677 or email her at
<cberinstein@accessalliancemchc.on.ca>
UPCOMING
SESSION OF THE GTA FORUM
THURSDAY
MAY 3, 2001 -- 4:00 P.M.
HUMAN
SERVICE PLANNING: BRIDGES OR HIGHWAYS?
Speakers:
Donna Hind, Susan Phillips and Susan Taylor
Moderator:
Valerie Preston, Department of Geography, York University
For more
information please contact: <gtainfo@yorku.ca>
National
Settlement Conference. Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario
JUNE
18-20, 2001.
Ingrid
Hauck and Reza Shahbazi, co-chairs. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and the
settlement sector have announced the first National Settlement Conference, the first
national forum on settlement policy issues, to be held this June. This Conference will be
an opportunity to debate priority policy issues, to strengthen the settlement sector, and
to facilitate learning within the sector. The conference planning committee will bring
together invited delegates from the settlement community, provincial and federal
governments, and other community stakeholders who are directly involved with new
immigrants and refugees in Canada.
For
further information contact CIC or OCASI.
CANADIAN
COUNCIL FOR REFUGEES
Refugee
Women Fleeing Gender-based Persecution
International
Conference, MAY 4-6, 2001, Montreal, Canada
The draft
agenda is available on the CCR web site, on the gender-based persecution page:
http://www.web.net/~ccr/gendagen.htm
Conference
site: Hotel Maritime Plaza, 1155 rue Guy, Montreal (Quebec), Canada, H3H 2K5 (Metro
Guy-Concordia), Phone: 1-800-363-6255 or 514-932-1411
Fax:
514-932-0446 Web site: http://www.hotelmaritime.com
To
reserve, please contact the hotel directly (see numbers above) and mention that you are
with the Canadian Council for Refugees.
__________________________
UPCOMING
CCR MEETINGS
Spring
2001 Consulatation Saskatoon, MAY 24-26, 2001
Summer
Working Group Meetings, Montreal, SEPTEMBER 7-10, 2001
Fall 2001
Consultation, Toronto, NOVEMBER 29 to DECEMBER 01, 2001
Spring
2002 Consultation, St. John's Newfoundland
For
further information contact the CCR: www.web.net/~ccr/
There
will be a conference on "REPRESENTING DIVERSITY" at Carleton University, Ottawa,
MAY 18-19, 2001, with sessions on "Political Culture in the New World",
"Consociationalism", "Language and Federalism", and "The Future
of Individual and Group Rights". The conference is in honour of the work of Kenneth
McRae. For more
information,
contact Stephen Brooks, e-mail: <brooks3@uwindsor.ca>
UPCOMING
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES
The 33rd
EUROFOR Conference will take place in Maratea (Potenza) Basilicata, Italy from MAY
24-27, 2001. The conference theme is "The Integration of Refugees into the
European Union". For more information on the conference e-mail
<emz@compuserve.com> or visit the website: http://www.emz-berlin.de
There
will be a seminar on "Tolerance, Respect and Human Rights" focusing on racism
and discrimination in post totalitarian countries in Europe and South Africa. The seminar
will be held in Prague on MAY 27-21, 2001. The seminar themes include prejudice and
racism, forms of discrimination, human rights and minorities, multicultural and antiracist
education. The working languages of the seminar will be Czech and English. For further
information, contact Laura Laubeova, Globea, Kettnerova 2052, 155 00 Praha 5, Czech
Republic; e-mail: <laubeova@quick.cz> or visit: http://www.tolerance.cz
Opportunity,
Deprivation, and the Housing Nexus: Trans-atlantic Perspectives.
An
International Conference Sponsored by the journal Housing Studies and the Urban
Institute/Metro Center -- MAY 31, 2001
The Urban
Institute, 2100 M St. NW (5th floor), Washington, DC
How does
the provision of housing relate to social inequality? Is housing a vehicle for enhancing
the health, education, stability, networks, accessibility, and emotional well-being of all
households, thereby encouraging opportunity and social mobility? Or, is housing often a
means of marginalizing certain people that promotes social exclusion and rigid
stratification? How do housing policies contribute positively and negatively to these
answers? What new housing policy initiatives offer the best prospects for improving social
opportunities?
Housing
Studies, the leading international journal of housing-related scholarship, is teaming with
the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Center of the Urban Institute to sponsor a
conference addressing these questions. Sessions will be structured around seven papers
from North American scholars that excelled in a recently concluded, Housing
Studies-sponsored research competition, and responses from invited key scholars from
Europe. Attendance will be limited, to encourage participation and networking.
Thanks to
the generosity of the sponsors, there will be no fee for the conference. However, all
attendees are required to register by May 11 by emailing Julie Adams at the Urban
Institute: <jadams@ui.urban.org>. Questions can be directed to George Galster,
conference organize at <George_Galster@Wayne.edu>
The
major "World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related
Intolerance" (WCAR) will take place in South Africa, AUGUST 31 - SEPTEMBER 7, 2001. A
list-serve that provides regular information on the conference has been established. For
more information on the conference or to subscribe to the list-serve, send an e-mail to
<lwiseberg.hchr@unog.ch>
There
will be a conference on "Rethinking Citizenship in the Canadian Federation",
held in honour of the work of Alan Cairns, at the University of British Columbia,
Vancouver on OCTOBER 11-13, 2001. Conference themes include federalism, Aboriginal
rights, the Charter of Rights, multiculturalism and social cohesion. The deadline for
paper proposals is April 30th. For more information, contact Philip Resnick, Dept. of
Political Science, UBC, 1866 Main Mall C472, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1; e-mail:
<resnick@unixg.ubc.ca>
Ethnicizing
the Nation -- Canadian Ethnic Studies Association Sixteenth Biennial Conference, Halifax,
Nova Scotia, Canada on NOVEMBER 2-4, 2001
Themes:
Sites of popular culture; Memory, place and politics; Generations: continuity and change;
Intersecting Ethnicities.
http://citd.scar.utoronto.ca/mhso/conferenceinfo.htm
METROPOLIS
CONFERENCES
The FIFTH
CANADIAN NATIONAL METROPOLIS CONFERENCE will be held in Ottawa, Canada OCTOBER 16 - 20,
2001. For more information please contact Steven Morris at <Steven.Morris@9522apx.cina.cic.x400.gc.ca>
The
SIXTH INTERNATIONAL METROPOLIS CONFERENCE will be held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands
NOVEMBER 26 - 30, 2001.
Details
for Call For Workshop Proposals are now availble:
http://international.metropolis.net
If you
are interested in receiving more information please contact either
Rinus
Penninx at <penninx@pscw.uva.nl> or
Howard
duncan at <howard.duncan@9522apx.cina.cic.x400.gc.ca>
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