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Promoting intercultural understanding and the

retention of cultural identity and language since 1964

Promoting intercultural understanding and the

retention of cultural identity and language since 1964.

2016-17

ANNUAL

REPORT

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

2017 Annual General Meeting Agenda ——————–——————————————————— 3

2016 Annual General Meeting Minutes ——————–——————————————————— 4

Message from the President ——————–————————————————————————- 10

Message from the Executive Director ——————–————————————————————- 12

SIA Staff for 2016-17——————————————————————————————————- 14

Vision, Mission, Values and Goals ——————–—————————————————————-- 14

Intercultural Art Contest & Festival ——————–—————————————————————–- 15

Mentorship Program ——————–————————————————————-——————–— 16

Learning Interculturalism Through Employment (LITE) ——————–————————————— 17

Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) ——————–————————————- 18

Stage 1 & 2 English Program & English for Employment (E4E)——————–—————————– 19

ConnectED Youth Program /Global Movement——————–————————————————— 20

Active Culture ——————–——————————————————————–————————- 21

Intercultural Mentoring Program—————————————————————————————— 22

Saskatoon Multilingual Schools——————————————————————————————

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Performing Arts ——————–————————————————————-——————–——— 24

Equity and Anti-Racism Committee ——————–————————————————————-— 25

Intercultural Education Service——————————————————————————————- 26

Interpreter Testing Service————————————————————————————————- 26

Partnerships——————————————————————————————————————- 27

Treasurers Report———————————————————————————————————— 28

Financial Statement ——————–————————————————————-——————–— 29

Board of Directors Slate ——————–————————————————————-—————— 44

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2017 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AGENDA

Date Wednesday, June 21st, 2017

Location Room 118, 601 B 1st Ave. North

Time 6:00 – 8:00 PM

Lebanese Cuisine: 6 o'clock

Agenda Item:

1.0 President’s Opening Remarks Mark

2.0 Adoption of the Agenda Mark

3.0 Adoption of the Minutes from last AGM | June 15, 2016 Mark

4.0 Business Arising from the Minutes Mark

Executive Director’s Report Annual Report overview

Program & Committee Updates; Progress, Challenges and New Opportunities

Jess

Treasurer’s Report Financial Report

Appointment of Auditor

Winnie

7.0 Election of New Board Members David

8.0 Other Business Mark

9.0 Questions/Suggestions Mark

10.0 Adjournment Mark

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2016 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MINUTES

Date Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Location Room G30, 230 Avenue R South (St. Paul’s Hospital –C Wing)

Time 6:00 – 8:00 PM

Pizza Dinner 5:30 PM

Agenda Item:

1.0 President’s Opening Remarks

2.0 Adoption of the agenda

3.0 Adoption of the minutes from last AGM | June 17, 2015

4.0 Business Arising from the minutes

5.0 Executive Director’s Report

Annual Report overview

Project & Committee Updates; Progress, Challenges and New Opportunities

6.0 Treasurer’s Report

Financial Report

Appointment of Auditor

Motion by Winnie to appoint Max Lingard as SIA auditor for 2015/16 fiscal year

7.0 Election of New Board Members

8.0 Other Business

Updated Vision and Values Statements

Bylaw Changes and Amendments

9.0 Questions/Suggestions

10.0 Adjournment

1.0 President’s Opening Remarks:

Mark Brown called the meeting to order at 6:10PM. Seconded by Sam. All in favour? Motion carried. Mark wel-comed everyone to the AGM.

2.0 Adoption of the Agenda

Mark asked for any changes to the agenda? None heard. Mark requested to move the President’s Opening Re-marks to 4.0. Under 8.1 Updated Vision and Values statements – Jess will make comments.

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Motion to adopt the agenda as presented with changes by Sam. Seconded by Caroline. All in favour – motion

carried.

3.0 Adoption of the Minutes from the last AGM (June 17, 2015)

Any changes to the minutes? Winnie pointed out a typo – page 6 remove the two paragraphs close to the bottom of the page as it is a repetition.

4.0 President’s Remarks:

Motion to accept the minutes as amended by Tracy. Seconded by Sam. All in favour – motion carried.

Mark recognized several members in the audience; April Sora (City of Saskatoon), Tracy Muggli (former SIA Vice President), Sandra Strachan (IRCC), Andrea Dielschneider (Ministry of the Economy), Trung Nguyen (Saskatoon Vietnamese Heritage Languages School), and Eleanor Shia (Chair of the Heritage Languages Schools). Thank all the staff for brining this event together and coordinating the AGM and recognized the hard work gone on throughout the year. Mark acknowledges SIA wouldn’t be around for the hard work of the staff. Lost a few staff last year - Kirstin Scansen, Bob Cram (Interim Executive Director) and Gabrielle Bouchard will be going on mat leave in September. Bob left in August and SIA re-hired Jessica Hamm to fill the Executive Director position - quite a learning curve for Jess with lots of challenges putting the pressure on her in most meetings. The Board and Jess learned a lot and came through in the end. Mark recognized Board members David Parkinson (Past President) always been at all the Committee meetings and has been a great mentor for Mark. Pratyush and Stryker pulling together the Reel to Real Film Festival. Caro-line Cottrell been Mark’s biggest headache, Sam for giving so much to the community. Winnie our Treasurer, we are so fortunate for her involvement. All the rest of the Board for their dedication over the past year. The past year has been the year of events and non-events. Due to two elections and the impacts on funding, it has been difficult to secure funding for SIA. The refugee crisis was big in January, and had an impact on our oper-ations. Syrian Refugee crisis is important but so is the rest of the world. Last year, SIA worked on developing partnerships to potentially give SIA a new home through the Kinsmen Learn-ing Commons project. In the end it fell through but it was close to coming to fruition. This led us to a lot of work on relocation, over the year looking at six different spaces. This also made the SIA Board look hard at our finances which is key for non-profits, and made us ask ourselves if we take risks with our reserves. In some cases, there are rules that tell us we should have a certain amount set aside.

Motion by Mark to accept his report. Seconded by Sam Sambasivam. All in favour – motion carried.

5.0 Business Arising from the Minutes

None.

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Jess welcomed everyone to the AGM, thanked them for coming out this evening. Over the last year, we continued with most of the same programs that we had offered the previous year. The summer was busy with the Newcomer youth program called ConnectED and served 20 youth with full-time programming for 2 months. We continued offering Global Movement this year and partnered with new schools to provide cultural performing arts to elementary school students of all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. We started a new program called Active Culture where we also partner with schools to offer intercultural physical ac-tivities and education right after school. Our two unique employment programs continued offering classroom training and work placements to help partici-pants find a job. The Mentorship Program for over 18 years has helped professionally trained. Our Intercultural Programs & Initiatives went through more of a roller coaster experience this year. The Saskatoon Multilingual Schools (SMS) has been running for over 30 years and this year had 32 active language schools offering instruction in teaching 29 different Languages. As mentioned in the report we received the devastating news in January that the Ministry of Education will no longer be providing funding heritage language training in Saskatchewan. We are still working with SOHL to see how SIA can continue to offer its SMS Coordination for the Language schools despite this dramatic cut to funding this fall. The Equity and Anti-Racism Committee put on another successful Reel to Real Film Festival on March 21st in order to commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The evening event showed the documentary Film, Salam Neighbor and followed with a Refugee panel discussion. The event was attended by over 200 people. We continued to partner with the public and separate schools’ systems and offered day showings of “42” for high students and provided an educational curriculum for teachers to use pre and post viewing. During this fiscal year, we applied for funding for starting an Intercultural Mentoring Program which we have now received word back that we were successful. This program works towards developing meaningful cultural connec-tions. The Program will be matching Newcomers (Immigrants or Refugees) and Indigenous people (coming from reserves or rural areas) with a local Mentor (living in Saskatoon for more than five years). The purpose of the men-toring relationship is to create the opportunity for developing new cross cultural relationships, learning/sharing about local opportunities and resources, practicing leadership and communication skills, and ultimately developing intercultural understanding through personal exchange. We plan to launch this program this month. Stay tuned for more information to come. For over 40 years, SIA has provided coordination and referrals for multicultural performances in Saskatoon. SIA has organized the performance groups for Canada Day celebrations in Diefenbaker Park since 1981. Since SIA had been offering individualized training on cultural diversity since 2009, we decided to invest more in this effort and we recently hired an Intercultural Education Coordinator who is able to offer Intercultural Education Services to the community. This service includes providing various training packages to organizations and compa-nies for their employees to participate in a group workshop on intercultural education, receive individual Intercul-tural Development Inventory (IDI) assessments, and individual follow-up coaching sessions. The training provides the employees with feedback on how their current degree of intercultural sensitivity and intercultural competence affects their interactions with other people and what actions might help further develop their intercultural compe-tence in their workplace. For over 40 years, SIA has provided coordination and referrals for multicultural performances in Saskatoon. SIA has organized the performance groups for Canada Day celebrations in Diefenbaker Park since 1981.

6.0 Executive Director’s Report

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Since SIA had been offering individualized training on cultural diversity since 2009, we decided to invest more in this effort and we recently hired an Intercultural Education Coordinator who is able to offer Intercultural Education Services to the community. This service includes providing various training packages to organizations and compa-nies for their employees to participate in a group workshop on intercultural education, receive individual Intercul-tural Development Inventory (IDI) assessments, and individual follow-up coaching sessions. The training provides the employees with feedback on how their current degree of intercultural sensitivity and intercultural competence affects their interactions with other people and what actions might help further develop their intercultural compe-tence in their workplace. SIA is also in the midst of starting up Interpreter Training and Testing. We have partnered with CISOC (Cultural In-terpretation Services for Our Communities) based out of Ottawa in order to offer Community Interpreter Training and Medical Knowledge & Terminology training online. We also have become a CILISAT Testing Centre (Community Interpreter Language and Interpreting Skills Assessment Tool) which evaluates the language and interpretation pro-ficiencies of people applying for certification as community interpreter. CILISAT certification is available in 50 lan-guages. Organizationally, the Board started the year by creating a few new Board committees in order to focus on accom-plishing specific goals for SIA. The Planning Committee continued the work started last year by planning a second Strategic Planning Workshop with the Board and Staff where we created the foundation for developing a vision and values statement (last year mission and goals). The committee worked together to wordsmith draft statements that were then sent to the rest of the Board and staff for feedback. The final results are the Board approved statements listed on page 14 of the annual report. Vision: We aspire to build an equitable community that accepts and celebrates all cultures. Values: In all our endeavours we will model respect, resourcefulness, integrity, and collaboration. The Relocation Committee has taken on the search for a new home for SIA. It has become clear to us that this is no simple matter to find a location that not only meets all our needs but is also affordable. The committee will contin-ue this work this year and hopefully we will be announcing a new location for SIA before the next AGM. The PR & Fundraising Committee has been working towards increasing SIA’s presence in the community and plan-ning fundraising activities. Although only planning occurred in the last fiscal year, we would like to announce our plans for this year. We are releasing a call for entries for an Intercultural Art Contest, submission deadline is July 30th. If you are interested in taking posters or postcards to help us advertise, please grab some from the front on your way out. We are also doing an Intercultural Art Festival on October 22nd at Prairieland park which will include the top 15 pieces of artwork from the contest as well as a multicultural supper and entertainment. Further details will be released soon but mark October 22nd in your calendars! And finally an ad hoc HR Committee was created early in the year with the purpose of updating SIA job profiles and creating a salary scale for the organization. This work is still in progress. SIA also has provided Services to the general public and we are looking to expand this are further in the next year.

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SIA has partnered or contributes as committee members on the following; NIC (Newcomer Information Centre), SAISIA (Saskatchewan Association of Immigrant Settlement and Integration Agencies) including the Employment and Language Working Groups, SCC (Saskatoon Coordinating Committee), SPACOD (Saskatoon Police Advisory Committee on Diversity), Saskatoon Refugee Coalition, Prairie Prism, LARC Advisory Committee, and the SMS Advi-sory Committee. and the SMS Advisory Committee. As you can see, it has been a very busy year! Jess thanked the Board and Staff for all the work they have done to move SIA forward over the last year. Jess also noted we are happy and sad to announce that our Policy and Pro-gram Manager will be leaving us for maternity leave in September and that we will be starting a new position called Office Assistant also in September so we will be looking to recruit over the summer for both of these posi-tions.

Motion to accept the executive Director Report by Tracy Muggli. Seconded by Sam Sambasivam. All in favour – motion carried.

This is Winnie’s third year as the Treasurer interesting year as the economy went down, funders were looking for opportunities to cut funding. Have been lucky to still get an increase in our revenues. Last year’s revenue $1,075 million. Up to $1.1 million given what we are working against. Expense reporting everyone has more service re-quests and the increased need for new programs this past year. Given this situation SIA ended up seeing expendi-tures increasing from $1.211 million to $1.244 million over the past year Looking at the performance, we ended up in a deficit of $78,500, slight drop of 6.1 percent over the last two years. Are quite confident in the deficit of last year - we were aware we are looking at this deficit. This year we were also looking to track on the right side of the revenue recognition policy implemented last year. One-time payment had to pay last June, mandatory payment and this expense could not be met from program funding. $38,000 almost half of the deficit. $25,000 in salaries that had to be met from somewhere due to the elec-tions one program was not running at all (LITE). $4,000 payment from the savings we had to repay the government wanted. $10,000 was earmarked for professional development that we intend to recoup from this current year. Relying on funding and operations with event being out of control come to this situation. Given this outcome, es-tablished a tool of the comprehensive budget through a global budget to monitor as we go to explain at any point and helping us take corrective action. Consciously working with Jess and her team to turn things around. Working on establishing a healthy reserve for rainy day to have something in place. Account is revolving and the bank accounts that you see is what we write cheques from. Auditor has given us a clean audited report, in accord-ance with Canadian accounting practices for non-profits. We have had a clean audit for many years which is posi-tive for the organization. Winnie recognized Elena for her hard work and dedication to meet deadlines on behalf of the organization. Last to thank Jess and Gabrielle for their hard work at SIA.

Questions? None heard.

7.0 Treasurer’s Report

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8.0 Election of New Board Members

David: A number of continuing Board members. Mark the President and Sharon the Vice-President have one more year. Two nominees for Executive positions Winnie as Treasurer and Pratyush Das put his name forward to be considered as Secretary. David asks: Are there any nominations from the floor for Treasurer or Secretary? Asks three times. Winnie is elected as Treasurer and Pratyush is elected as Secretary by acclimation. Current directors: Ayesha Baig, Caroline Cottrell, Jennifer Lawrence, Shenuka Wickramasinghe and Jason Zhang. Sam Sambasivam (former Secretary) would like his name to stand for Director. Dave Hannah nominated by the Nominations Committee for a Director position. Firew Seyoum nominated by the Nominations Committee for a Director position. David asks: Are there any nominations from the floor for Director positions? Asks three times. Caroline: Nominates Jared Brown, University Student’s Council, was Caroline’s boss as the University of Saskatche-wan’s Student Union. Jared holds a degree in College of Arts and Science. Graduated with a Law degree and is cur-rently articling at Robertson Stromberg. For these reasons, Caroline thinks he would be a welcome addition to the Board given Jared’s experience with board governance as he has chaired the USSU. Jared has worked with the leadership as a representative of students on campus and has done so with exceptional skill. Charged with huge responsibility of Jared would bring sensibility of intercultural secured a grant from formally INAC to create Aborigi-nal week. Secured speakers, hosted workshops to increase awareness of Aboriginal issues. Jared has the attrib-utes to make an excellent Board member. Tracy Muggli seconds Caroline Cottrell’s nomination of Jared Brown for Director position. David asks for any other nominations from the floor three times. Hearing none, elected the proposed directors by Sam Sam Sambasivam, David Hannah, Firew Seyoum and Jared Brown are elected as Directors by acclamation as pre-sented .

9.1 Bylaws changes: Changed Powers section (refer to AGM Document) c) and Signing Officers. Signing Officers: Vice-President: a/b Be a signing officer. Secretary: d/ removed signing authority. This change is to ensure con-sistency. Added point d: Motion to accept Bylaws as presented by Caroline Cottrell. Seconded by Jared Brown. All in favour – motion car-ried.

9.0 Other Business

Motion to adopt the Treasurer’s report by Winnie. Seconded by Tracy. All in favour – motion carried.

Motion to reappoint Twigg and Company as auditors by Winnie. Seconded by Sam. All in favour – motion car-

ried.

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MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Nayyar Javad: Asks SIA members to consider gender when they are recruiting for the Board. Currently there are six women out of 14. Mark: we focus on who we are trying to recruit we don’t think about gender. Winnie: when looking who is out there who has the qualifications and who wants to step forward. Didn’t recruit for gender. David: Approached two females and one male and the two females declined. April Sora (City of Saskatoon): On behalf of the City of Saskatoon, has opportunity to work with SIA. She recognizes how SIA steps up and makes it work when approached to be involved in various things throughout the year.

11.0 Adjournment

I t is with great hon-our that I address you as

president of the Saskatche-wan Intercul-tural Associa-tion in Treaty Six territory and in the home of the Metis.

As I reflected on this second year of my term, I was reminded of the butterfly effect and how tiny events impact everything around them. As a board, it is our duty to ensure we provide support and direction to the Executive Di-rector for the betterment of the organization. One way we do this is through an annual retreat attended by board members and staff, a time to envision our future and map out plans for the next year and beyond. To guide this vision we create committees from within the

board to oversee Public Relations and Fundraising, Hu-man Resource issues, Finance, and Anti-Racist Educa-tion. It is with fortune that I attend committee meetings as a non-voting member, and have an over-view of the effort, expertise, and integrity that goes in-to turning SIA’s vision into reality.

This is where the butterfly comes along and changes everything. We plan for this and that, and realize we don’t have a policy for this, our insurance doesn’t cover that, and that we planned for three events but one is in conflict with a colleague’s major event and we don’t have a venue for another, and a key staff member is leaving, our proposal fell through but another succeed-ed; and soon our great vision of blue skies slowly clouds over. This seemed to be one of those years. It was a year of heavy lifting for board members, we placed great expectations on the executive and staff, and we put a lot of faith in our many volunteers. Despite it all, it was a year of achievement.

I personally believe that this year’s Reel to Real Film Festival was the best ever, but was surpassed by one achievement –SIA’s office relocation. This project took over two years and was full of ups and downs. This in

Adjournment called by Mark Brown at 7:26 PM.

10.0 Questions/Suggestions

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particular made me think of the butterfly effect, of how a simple idea forced us to look at how we as-sessed risk, how we managed finance and resources, the composition of our board, how we managed our strategy, and how we communicated. This in itself made SIA a better, stronger organization. On the hu-man side we felt the impact of promising to staff that they would soon be working in an office where offices are connected, where room temperature is controlled, where parking is local and services are nearby, where there is pride in the surroundings, where there is com-munity connection…and then crushing their hopes with the news that the deal fell through. We are in-debted to the staff for their patience and gracious will-ingness to understand. No less impressive is the board’s commitment and persistence to making it happen. There were many meetings and site visits at odd hours and on short notice, we asked favors of ex-

perts, and trust from strangers, we had crucial conver-sations at board meetings with big picture dreamers and the fine detail critics, but in the end we had con-sensus.

This new location means that SIA now has bricks and mortar in which to share our services and is symbolic that we are truly settled in the

community. To all of staff, participants, funders, spon-sors, and the public – welcome to the new home of the Saskatchewan Intercultural Association!

It is with this we begin a new year looking up at blue skies and an exciting future. In speaking for all of SIA, we are thankful and indebted to all of the great peo-ple that make up the organization.

-Mark Brown

SIA BOARD OF DIRECTORS FOR 2016 – 17

President

Mark Brown

Vice - President

Caroline Cottrell

Sharon Clarke

Treasurer

Winnie Mutswangwa

Secretary

Pratyush Das

Past President

David Parkinson

Directors

Ayesha Baig

Emmanauel Barker

Jared Brown

Heena Desai

David Hannah

Sam Sambasivam

Shenuka Wickramasingghe

Jennifer Lawrence

Jason Zhang

Firew Seyoum

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T his year

has been

another

year of

significant change

for the Saskatche-

wan Intercultural

Association (SIA) but

this time in the are-

as of growth and

development. We

expanded programs,

started imple-

menting new ser-

vices, hosted a contest and a new event, focused on

organizational planning and created essential HR docu-

ments, and most notably, embarked on an intense jour-

ney that brought us to our new home.

In fact, when I look back on everything we accom-

plished in the last year, I am so proud of the effort and

dedication of the SIA Staff, Board, and Volunteers as I

believe we took on a lot in a short amount of time. The

success of this organization has always depended on

the passion and commitment of those who work and

volunteer here. It has been a very busy and challenging

year, but it has definitely been worth it! You can read

about the successes of each program over the last year

the report, but I would like to highlight some of the

changes as well as the new initiatives we took on this

year.

The largest change to our programming was the expan-

sion of our LINC Program. We went from offering 11

LINC classes at the beginning of the year to offering 21

classes by the end. We increased our childcare offer-

ings in both Forest Grove and the Pacific Heights loca-

tions well also preparing to open 60 childcare spots in

our new location. Our expansion was both due to de-

mand by clients and the ability to offer programming in

our new space. Our ConnectED Youth Program dou-

bled in size this last summer and served 40 Newcomer

youth between the ages of 6-18. We expanded this

program in order to make room for Syrian Refugee chil-

dren and youth.

We piloted a new program called the Intercultural

Mentoring Program which works towards increasing

intercultural competencies by offering structured and

supported mentoring relationships between new and

longstanding residents of Saskatoon. Over 50 people

participated in this program representing over 19

Countries and several Saskatchewan First Nations. Eve-

ryone who participated in the program was invited to

several potluck gatherings which included a cultural

topic and presenter with time to mingle and share cul-

tural experiences with each other.

We also started offering two different services to the

public this year. Our Intercultural Education Services

included offering intercultural training sessions and

presentations by request to community organizations

and several individuals, including the staff at SIA. The

other service we started offering is Interpreter Testing

by becoming a CILISAT (Community Interpreter Lan-

guage and Interpreting Skills Assessment Tool) Testing

Centre through our contract with CISOC (Cultural Inter-

pretation Services for Our Communities). This testing is

for anyone interested in becoming a certified commu-

nity interpreter. We provided over 40 tests through our

partnership with the Saskatoon Police Service’s Cultural

Resources Unit.

This year we ran an art contest with the theme of

MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

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‘intercultural’ and the judges selected the top 15 pieces

which we displayed at our Intercultural Art Festival. The

evening event included a multicultural buffet, featured

speaker, performances, silent auction, and we awarded

prizes to the top 3 winners as well as the people’s

choice. Over 150 people attended the event and it was

considered a great success.

SIA also focused on continuing its efforts in organiza-

tional development by having the Board and Staff par-

ticipate in an annual Strategic Planning session. This

year we focused on preparing for the relocation and

planning for the many changes that the move would

bring both in opportunities and challenges. Manage-

ment also worked with the Board to create and imple-

ment a salary scale and performance evaluation plan for

all SIA employees.

As can be imagined, the relocation of our organization

was no small feat to take on and as mentioned in last

year’s report, was a major priority for SIA this year. We

assessed many options and the process was rigorous

and time consuming for

both the Staff and the

Board. We came across our

current location as an op-

tion in August and after

months of reviewing, plan-

ning, and working with our

funders, we signed a lease

in November. Then we

went through four months

of renovations to build out

the space to fit our needs

while also securing new

furniture, technology, and

employees for the new

space.

I want to thank some of the key contributors to our re-

location success: the Board for all of the extra time and

effort they put in to making sure this move was the right

fit for our organization; the Staff for stepping up and

helping with anything that needed to be done, especial-

ly Abdur, Tehreem, and Ryan; our new Landlord, Build-

ing Manager, and Contractor for being so cooperative

and treating us less like tenants and more like partners;

and finally, our Funders, especially Immigration, Refu-

gees and Citizenship Canada, for working with us to

make this relocation plan become a financial reality.

Overall, this year has been fast paced and extremely

busy, but also fun and exciting. Our new space is an op-

timal location to serve our clientele and opens a lot of

doors for new partnerships and initiatives. It is truly a

gift to come to work every day and see how happy and

proud SIA employees and clients are to work and learn

in our new home. I hope you feel as welcome here as

we do!

- Jess Hamm

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SIA STAFF FOR 2016 - 17

Jess Hamm

Abdur Rehman Ahmad

Elena Tenorio

Ryan Palik

Haven Seto

Golsa Kafili

Tanjalee Kuhl

Nafiseh Zamani

John Johnson

Andrew Geldart

Julie Berscheid

Todd Johnson

Christine Zyla

Ben Bodnaryk

Michael Kresak

Zubda Qamer

Asma Saeed

Elizabeth Gruber

Tehreem Zafar

Taryn Millard

Kseniya Khatsko

Fungai Marowa

Nabila Nadeem

Fatima Saddal Sana

Marco Milani

Shaista Saleh Khan

Carrie Peters

Farrah Mae Penpena

Shashwati Gope

Darla Boese

Sandra Harvey

Chelsey Zelizney

Musarrat Saeed

Colin G. Guenther

Gabrielle Bouchard

Lin Shue– Huei

Song Zhang

Shazia Azim

Navdeep Dhillon

Nadia Maqbool

Paige Appleyard

Imran Mahmood

Lei Song

Carmen Dyky

Lenore Maier

Zoe Mukura

Ryan Jimmy

Heather Anwender

Lubna Sheikh

Scott Mickelson

Akmala Kamboh

Gayle Maines

Sean Beach

Toni Chasmar

VISION, MISSION, & VALUES

VISION:

We aspire to build an equitable community that accepts and celebrates all cultures.

MISSION:

We promote intercultural understanding and the retention of cultural identity and language to include

Newcomers and Indigenous people in Canadian society

VALUES:

In all our endeavours we will model respect, resourcefulness, integrity, and collaboration.

Silvia Beschin

Sadaf Abbas

Liliana Dominguez

Shiva Akhlaghipour

Ying Zhou

Cheryl Woelk

Gareth Charpentier

Kimberley Pratt

Victoria Gerwing

Samreen Mubarik

Bushra Shafiq

Brianne N. Simpson

Sara Al-Edreesi

Tram Nguyen

Susan Muench

Rahila Arif

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INTERCULTURAL ART CONTEST & FESTIVAL

T his year, the SIA took on a new initiative by hosting an art contest and festival with the theme of ‘intercultural’. The contest was open to anyone ages 18 and above who lived in Sas-

katchewan. SIA commissioned 4 external judges who selected the top 15 entries based on the following cri-teria: clarity of theme, creativity & originality, technical skill & technique, and overall impression. The top 15 were invited to have their art on display at our event in the fall and remained in the competition for the grand prize winner of $1,000. The following artists and their work were selected:

SIA hosted its first Intercultural Art Festival on October 22nd 2016 at the Prairieland Park. The festival includes

a delicious buffet meal comprised of five different cul-tural food stations. The program included a keynote presentation by Jen Budney who spoke about how cul-ture and art are intertwined and can be used to ad-dress oppression in our community. The evening had an incredible line-up of five different cultural perfor-mances by Curtis Peeteetuce, Punjabi Cultural Associa-tion of Saskatchewan, Chinese Martial Arts Academy, and Dance Egypt. The top three artists were awarded at the event: 1st Place: Catherine Blackburn, 2nd Place: Kirsten Kohn, 3rd Place: Danahe Palacios, and Lynn Strendin won the People’s choice award. Over 150 peo-ple attended the event who participated in raffle prizes, a 50/50 draw, and bidding on the artwork in the silent auction. We were very happy with the success of the event and hope to plan a similar event in the future.

Close up of Catherine Blackburn’s Prairies Dance

Artist Name Art Work Title Catherine Blackburn Prairies Dance Danahe Palacios Syncret-ismus Donna Kurtenbach Students of Kinyambu Donna Kurtenbach Girl from La Loma Jean Bosco Bakunzi Togetherness Just Bud I Lost My Glasses Kirsten Kohn ONE Kyle Anderson This Way to Pow Wow Lynn Strendin First Snowfall Morgan Whitehead Thunderbird Olha Tkachenko We Are One Blood You and I Rey Tatad Concord Shirley Arcand Metis Heritage Stefanie Foster Our Stories Tianyue (Joanna) Ma Fish of Prosperity

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T he Mentorship Program is an employment pro-gram aimed at helping professional Newcom-ers who are highly skilled and educated. The focus of the program is on employment train-

ing, networking, job search techniques, workplace liter-acy, an introduction to Canadian work culture and the development of fundamental social skills which are es-sential to succeed in the Canadian workplace. Many for-eign-trained individuals come to Canada without any knowledge of the work culture. Additional tools and resources that they lack include job search techniques and specific local information related to their field. The intention of the Mentorship Program is to provide par-ticipants with instruction, guidance, and materials to be successful in their professional career. This is done

through a variety of workshops which include knowledge of the current labour market, social compe-tencies, resume and cover letter writing, interview skills, and opportunities to meet local employers. The program also provides a participant with a three-month internship with a company or organization related to the client’s professional background; this allows them to gain valuable Canadian work experience and estab-lish relationships in their specialized network.

Each year the Mentorship program offers three intakes which begin in February, May, and September. Every intake consists of an eight-week classroom portion and followed by an 8-12 week volunteer work placement that helps clients connect to their careers and build pro-fessional networks in Saskatchewan. In the past year, clients in the program came in with the following pro-fessional background: Accounting, Biochemistry, Biolo-gy, Business Administration, Civil Engineering, Comput-er Science, Economics, Manufacturing, Education, Elec-trical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Finance, International Relations, Law, Medical Lab Scientist, Medicine, Microbiology, Non-Profit, Planning, Political Science, Public Health, Statistics, and Telecommunica-tions. The 45 clients served in 2016-2017 represented 19 countries including: Bangladesh, Benin, Brazil, Came-roon, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, India, Iran, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Ko-rea, Sudan, Ukraine, and Vietnam.

2016-17 Mentorship Statistic:

45/45 Clients completed training in the Mentorship Program (MAY 15/15, SEPT 15/15,FEB 15/15)

29/45 Clients found sustainable employment

23/45 Clients found sustainable employment in their field of expertise/training

01/45 Clients are upgrading their education/training

05/45 Clients are currently completing internships and job searching (as of June 01, 2017)

04/45 Clients are currently unable to pursue career goals due to personal/family reasons

MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

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LEARNING INTERCULTURALISM THROUGH

EMPLOYMENT (LITE) PROGRAM

T he LITE Program is an employment and Inter-cultural learning program for Indigenous and Newcomer youth ages 18-30 in Saskatoon. LITE is truly unique in that it brings diverse

cultural groups together to prepare participants for employment success in the Canadian work force while also learning about the diversity of cultures in Canada. The majority of the LITE program is funded by the Fed-eral government through the Skills Link Program and part of the Youth Employment Strategy.

The LITE program offers six weeks of paid in-class em-ployment and intercultural group training, followed by a 12-week paid work placement designed with the par-ticipants’ career goals and aspirations in mind. Through LITE, participants have the opportunity to develop em-ployment-ready skill sets such as re-sume and cover letter writing, vide-otaped mock interviews and prepara-tion for employment. They also have the opportunity to obtain certifica-tions such as: First Aid/ CPR, WHMIS and FoodSafe. Participants learn skill sets for success in diverse workplaces and learn about racism, discrimina-tion, diversity, Canadian and Saskatch-ewan history, treaties, human rights and a number of life skills topics. Par-ticipants also take field trips to a num-ber of job fairs, University of Saskatch-ewan, Saskatchewan Polytechnic, Wanuskewin Heritage Park and West-ern Development Museum.

Between April 2016 and March 2017, the LITE program served 28 partici-pants. LITE participants came from a number of Indigenous nations throughout Saskatchewan such as Nehiyaw, Nehithaw, Anishinaabe, Denesuline, Dakota, Lakota, Nakoda

and Saulteaux and the Newcomer participants were either permanent residents or refugees who came from diverse countries such as; Bangladesh, China, Mexico, Croatia, Eritrea, Pakistan, Iran, Vietnam and Colombia. Successful LITE program participants are those individuals who gained meaningful employment in their fields or return to school to further their edu-cation. As of June 9th, 2017, as many as 82.2% of par-ticipants became employed or returned to school fol-lowing completion of the LITE program.

At the SIA, we look forward to offering the highest quality of employment and intercultural training to Newcomer and Indigenous youth in Saskatoon in the future intakes of the LITE program.

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LANGUAGE INSTRUCTIONS FOR NEWCOMERS TO

CANADA (LINC) PROGRAM

F or more than 5 years, LINC has offered a com-prehensive English language training program to newcomers to Canada at SIA. This program has helped thousands of newcomers, who are

seeking to improve their English language skills and in-tegrate in the community. This program also helps them to increase their chances of gaining meaningful employment or continuing their studies in their chosen fields. Language training is crucial to the success of many of our clients here at SIA. Integration and a sense of community belonging through improved English skills is the main goal of our program. The LINC program is funded by the Federal government through Immigra-tion, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

This year marked the completion of a four-year Contri-bution Agreement with IRCC. 2013-17 statistics show that SIA started LINC Program with 7 classes in 2013 and was able to expand the program to 19 LINC classes, a Mom & Tot and a Conversation Circles program by the end of the contract.

Since April 2016, the LINC program has increased its capacity from 159 participants to 281 participants, and served a total of 568 unique clients throughout the fis-cal year. SIA also added two new positions to its admin team. We ran LINC and CNC (Care for Newcomer Chil-dren) with the help of 25 staff members including ad-

ministrators, instructors and childcare workers. Over this time period, classes continuously ran at full capaci-ty with healthy waitlists. As our program was a continu-ous enrolment program, we averaged approximately 15-20 students per class each month. The program used Portfolio Based Language Assessment (PBLA) as a tool to assess the students’ progress.

In addition to our ESL classes, we coordinated two new programs this year, a Mom & Tot and a Conversation Circles class. The Mom & Tot class was designed to place emphasis on improving the client’s English lan-guage skills while helping them to interact more with their child as they develop their language skills. Conver-sation classes were meant to place emphasis on im-proving the client’s English language skills while also introducing clients to new people, and a variety of com-munity resources. Overall, our program showed very positive outcomes in terms of client intake, participa-tion and community engagement.

We wrapped up our year by preparing for our move to our new home at 1st Avenue with 10 LINC classes and 60 CNC to start the new fiscal year at this new location.

Field trips were arranged to offer clients practical learn-ing opportunities by having direct access to cultural and service experiences that supplemented the LINC curric-ulum. Many field trips for the participants were ar-ranged within and outside of the city where the stu-dents got a chance to learn about Saskatchewan, First Nations culture and used their English skills in public. LINC classes also arranged potlucks to learn and cele-brate Canadian as well as multicultural Holidays. This provided the students an excellent opportunity to inter-act with the students from different cultures about their tradition. We partnered with the following places to offer offsite classes: Forest Grove Community Church, Westgate Alli-ance Church, Wildwood Mennonite Church, St. Mark’s School and the Food Bank. LINC’s partnership with Westgate Alliance Church was initiated to serve the

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new Syrian population that was mostly settling in these areas. A part of this new partnership included using the licensed daycare services provided by the church. This partnership proved very successful as 90% of our clients were Syrian. We also started/continued partnerships

with other SPOs in or outside the community including LARC, SAISIA, NWT LINC Program, CCLB, TESL Sk., SPT and GGP that included Advisory Committee meetings, networking opportunities and combined PD sessions.

STAGE 1&2 ENGLISH PROGRAM AND

ENGLISH FOR EMPLOYMENT (E4E) PROGRAM

T he Stage 1&2 English Program, launched in March 2010, is tailored to facilitate the lan-guage needs of Newcomers for their smooth integration into Canadian culture with free

Adult English Language classes, CLB levels 1-6, and free child minding services in Saskatoon. This program is funded by Ministry of the Economy - Government of Saskatchewan.

The purpose of this program is to facilitate learners’ improvement of their basic English language skills by building confidence in their use of English in daily com-munity interactions and workplace environments.

In Oct 2015, English for Employment (E4E) Program was introduced as a pilot project with the purpose of assisting newcomers to develop their English language skills needed to meet their individual employment chal-lenges. It also helps them to attain knowledge of Sas-katchewan’s work environment and connect them to the Saskatchewan labour market. The program has been successful in supporting newcomer transition into the workplace, society, and inclusive communities. 80% of the participants have been connected to the labour market or peruse their educational goals. The program

continued to its next year and offered four intakes in 2016-2017 to CLB levels 4-6 clients. Classes are held every Monday and Wednesday evening from 10 AM until 12:30 PM in St. Paul’s United Church, offering free child minding services.

The Stage 1&2 English and English for Employment programs offer classes at two different locations: St. Paul’s United Church, Wildwood Mennonite Church.

270 clients were served in 2016- 2017, originating from different countries such as China, Korea, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Burma, Cambodia, Iraq, Iran, Mongolia, Turkey, Russia, Vietnam, Jordan, Greek, Sri Lanka, Syria, Philippines, Morocco, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Somalia, Tunisia, Libya, Burma, Sudan, Poland, Serbia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Spain, Lithuania, El Salvador and Mexico.

The accomplishments of the programs are indebted to the continuous cooperation and collaboration with St. Paul’s United Church, the Wildwood Mennonite Church, University of Saskatchewan and First Nations and Metis people, contributing equally towards the fa-cilitation and integration of our clients into diverse Ca-nadian culture.

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GLOBAL MOVEMENT PROGRAM

G lobal Movement is a program run in partner-ship by the Saskatchewan Intercultural Asso-ciation Inc. (SIA) and the Saskatoon Public School Division in which cultural performing

arts are made easily accessible to Saskatoon elementary school students. This program allows students to take part in cultural activities that are not traditionally offered in Saskatoon schools. Participating in this pro-

CONNECTED YOUTH PROGRAM

C onnectED is a summer program for Newcomer boys and girls. 2016 was an exciting year for the program, as we introduced a new age de-mographic (6-11 years) and increased in size

from 20-40 participants. We expanded the in order to welcome several Syrian Refugee participants into the program.

This program continues to focus on educational, cultur-al, and recreational activities in our community, while promoting our participants own cultures, strengths and identities through learning. The program includes three sessions: Canada & Saskatoon Integration, Education & Volunteering, and Sports & Recreation. This program runs during the months of July and August.

In 2016, 40 participants spent the summer learning and playing a variety of sports, improving their English skills, exploring science projects, and learning about life in Canada. This year’s activities included field trips to the Regina Science Centre, Fort Battleford, swimming les-

sons, and a three-day camping trip to Pike Lake where they experienced camping in Canada. A few sessions also focused on drawing, painting and craft projects featuring several different themes.

To end the summer, we had an amazing potluck with our participants and their families, which ended up be-ing a wonderful party full of full stomachs and smiles.

The feedback received from the participants this year was very positive; the majority (87%) of participants felt that all the activities of the program made them feel more comfortable speaking English and would lead them to better academic success in the school year. They also felt that the program had increased their self-esteem and helped prepare them for life in Canada. Also, all of the participants (100%) felt that the program helped them make new friends.

The ConnectED program is funded through Immigra-tion, Refugee and Citizenship Canada, the City of Saska-toon, and the Canadian Red Cross.

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gram not only increases awareness of ethnic dance, music and recreation, but also promotes social interac-tion amongst Canadian-born, immigrant, and refugee students in elementary schools. Global Movement aims to unite youth of all cultural and socioeconomic back-grounds through participation in a program where they will learn new skills and cultural knowledge together. Global Movement is a program that provides an oppor-tunity for youth to learn about a variety of cultures, de-velop new friendships, and increase their self-esteem while enjoying a healthy activity. This year, two SIA per-forming art groups (Chinese Martial Art Academy and Del Mundo Dance Academy) offered instruction to the students of Bishop Roborecki, W.P Bate Community

schools. Each school offered a winter and spring session consisting of nine classes per session during after school. Participants in Global Movement learn about dedication, practice, patience, all while having fun with the new activities they learn. At the end of each session there is a school assembly where other students, edu-cators, volunteers and parents get to see a group per-formance and learn about the program. Around 60 stu-dents enjoyed the program through the 2016-2017 school year. Thanks to Community Initiatives Fund for providing the financial support for this program, and to all he participants, coaches, and volunteers for making Global Movement possible.

ACTIVE CULTURE PROGRAM

T he Active Culture Program, established in 2015, is run in partnership with both Saskatoon Pub-lic Schools, Saskatoon Catholic Schools, Potash Corp, and Saskatoon Community Foundation.

The Active Culture program runs once a week for ten

weeks in the fall and spring. The goal of this program is to engage students in fun activities that assist in edu-cating them, which in turn encourages healthy lifestyles and relationships among youth, and their families. Throughout the Active Culture term participants had the opportunity to learn about diverse cultures, develop new friendships, understand and express their emo-tions, and increase their self-esteem. Over the ten-week period participants had the opportunity to learn about several different aspects of Indigenous culture such as beliefs and values, art, respect, medicine, natural sources of food, and storytelling. This program also pro-vided students with information about health and nutri-tion, physical activity, mental health, and relationship building among family members.

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INTERCULTURAL MENTORING PROGRAM

T he Intercultural Mentoring Program was a new initiative in 2016 funded by the United Way and SaskCulture. This program seeks to build intercultural connections among new and es-

tablished residents in the community. New residents who are indigenous, immigrants or refugees are matched with established residents of Saskatoon in a mentoring relationship to inspire learning through inter-cultural exchange.

The mentors meet one-to-one with the participants weekly for 2 months and they share personal stories, cultural norms, information about the community, and resources. Every other month, all past or current partic-ipants and mentors in the program gather for a potluck or group activity that provides the opportunity to con-nect with other new and established residents to learn from their experiences and share ideas.

Registration was ongoing throughout the year and there were over 50 participants including residents from Syr-ia, China, Ukraine, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Congo, Mexico, Af-ghanistan, Hungary, Kenya, Pakistan, India, Nigeria, South Sudan, Philippines, Russia, Chile, Germany, Gor-don First Nation, Big River First Nation, Red Pheasant First Nation and various other communities across Sas-katchewan.

Group Activities included a kick off potluck and games night, a holiday potluck and intercultural trivia night and

silent auction for prizes donated by the community. The group events also featured cultural sharing. The winter potluck featured a focus on Ethiopia with a coffee roasting ceremony. Participants had the oppor-tunity to gain more indigenous awareness and to learn more about the history of Canada through guest speak-ers such as Lyndon Linklater from the Office of the Trea-ty Commissioner, and activities such as the Blanket Ex-ercise, facilitated by Canadian Roots.

The program has received much support from the com-munity including free tickets from the Symphony, the Broadway Theatre, Persephone Theatre and free passes to a Bollyfit class providing opportunities for partici-pants to experience the rich arts and culture that the city has to offer. In December, a mentor and participant were interviewed by the host of the CBC Morning show to share their experiences. The City of Saskatoon offered free tickets to a Theatre event called “Displaced”, a dramatization of the stories of three im-migrant women and their struggles. Several mentors have also offered their time and resources by offering a free tennis lesson at the Saskatoon Tennis and Badmin-ton Club for mentors and participants as well as a free bowling lesson at Fairhaven Bowl.

The program has been very effective at creating learn-ing opportunities, building bridges between cultures, and providing support for new residents of the city. The feedback from all mentors was very positive in that they

came to understand the challenges of newcomer experiences and discovered many new things about a different cul-ture. The participants were very grate-ful for the opportunity to make a new friend and to receive one on one sup-port for the needs identified, particularly English language practice, new net-works, job search assistance, and learn-ing about local culture(s) and the history of the community.

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SASKATOON MULTILINGUAL SCHOOLS

T he Saskatoon Multilingual Schools (SMS) was established in 1983 and provides classroom bookings, professional development coordi-nation, and special event coordination for the

Language schools in Saskatoon. The SMS is governed by a committee, chaired by Eleanor Shia. The Schools provide language instruction (K - 12) in different herit-age languages throughout the community. Some of the language schools offer credit classes to high school students and some deliver heritage language training for adults as well.

For the last 35 years, the SMS has been fundamental in achieving SIA’s goal of increasing cross-cultural awareness, understanding and providing opportunities for youth in Saskatoon. The financial support for this program is from the Saskatchewan Organization for Heritage Languages (SOHL).

Unfortunately, early in 2016, the Ministry of Educa-tion announced it would stop providing financial sup-port for this program, which would have a dramatic affect on this year’s classes. SOHL was able to secure one-time funding from SaskCulture this year. SOHL was also given funding to find ways/resources to ap-proach future years without this funding. SIA has been looking for another source of funding to continue sup-port the administrative coordination and planning for this program.

The SMS also receives a tremendous amount of sup-port from the Saskatoon Public School Board. Some of the Multicultural Initiatives Fund grant that SIA se-cures through SaskCulture is used to cover the extra cost of SMS due to the increased number of language schools as well as students.

The SMS has the goal of promoting the learning of Heritage languages in Saskatoon by publicizing the program, booking classes for active Multilingual Schools, helping Saskatoon communities to establish new language schools and providing the students cer-tificates for accomplishing their heritage language learning. Through the language schools, the newcom-ers are connected to their community which provides support to them during the settlement process.

Through the 2016-2017 school year, SMS had 27 active schools offering instruction in 25 different languages with around 1,500 youth and adult students taught by over 150 volunteer teachers. Serbian Language school is a newly joined school and Greek language school resumed their activity under the SIA umbrella this year. The Choral Concert, presented by 12 language schools and attended by around 350 people, as well as a fall Workshop on “Lesson Plan & Classroom Manage-ment” attended by 47 volunteer teachers, were the main functions of SMS during the 2016-2017 school year.

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PERFORMING ARTS

T he Performing Arts Program promotes multi-culturalism through fine arts and performing arts by developing programs and booking per-forming arts services for community events. It

also develops and oversees educational projects and programs (multicultural education) and engages in mul-ticultural events to enhance cross cultural awareness in the City of Saskatoon.

Throughout the 2016-2017 year, SIA has received per-formance requests for the Performing Art group mem-bers by community organizations for more than 20 community events in Saskatoon. Every year, SIA organ-izes the performing arts events for the Canada Day cele-bration on July 1st. In 2016, 15 SIA performing groups presented a professional performance at Diefenbaker Park.

The following are the 2016 performing groups:

Oriental Dance Arts, Heritage Chinese Language School , German Junior Folk Dance, Blakey School of Irish Dance, Chinese Language School of Saskatoon, World Dance Academy, Saskatoon Scottish Country Dancers, Punjabi Cultural Association of Saskatchewan, Filipino Heritage School, Tzahalah Dance Group, Dance Egypt Dance Co., Russian Language School, and MBC Saskatoon.

Currently, SIA does not receive funding for the Perform-ing Arts program outside of the Optimist Club who pro-vides a small payment for coordinating the Canada Day performances.

25

T his past year, the Equity and Anti-Racism Com-mittee coordinated another successful event in commemoration of the United Nations Inter-national Day for the Elimination of Racial Dis-

crimination. With the financial support of the Multicul-tural Council of Saskatchewan (MCoS), the EAR Com-mittee was able to provide a topical and captivating look at how recent neoliberal policies, while originally designed with good intentions, often ignore the popula-tions and cultures they are intended to protect and cre-ate harmful consequences.

With the continued connection to the public and sepa-rate school systems, the EAR Committee also provided matinee film events focused on overcoming historical racial prejudice. To accompany the film and help ad-dress the complex themes, the Committee prepared and distributed an Education Package which spoke to the curricular connections between the film and educa-tional outcomes in the classroom.

The afternoons of March 21 and March 22 saw the Broadway Theatre full of students from grades 7 to 10 watching the 2008 motion picture, “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.” Set during World War II, the film cap-tures the relationship between the eight year old son of a German Commandant of a concentration camp and his forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the fence. Mark Herman’s dramatic film effec-tively captures the playful innocence of childhood and demonstrates the larger concept of racial prejudice as a “learned behavior” which is manipulated through adult-hood. Administration of the school events this year were streamlined by providing free “tickets” via the EventBrite website and sending advertisements and links to interested teachers. This resulted in 270 and 300 students attending over the two matinee events.

The formal evening event on Tuesday, March 21st in partnership with Paved Arts in Saskatoon brought the possibility of showcasing a previously unreleased docu-mentary from the Hot Docs Film Festival. “Angry Inuk” is

Director Alethea Arnaquq-Baril’s personal journey to combat the neoliberal policies of international animal-rights organizations which seek to bring a halt to the practice of seal hunting. The documentary follows Alethea as she organizes from the grassroots level in traditional Inuit communities all the way to the Europe-an Union to speak with representatives who vote on the worldwide ban. It is a challenging and complex story, but Alethea approaches the topic with eloquence and a demonstrated passion as the outcome of these global bans have a direct impact on her community’s ability to be self-reliant.

The documentary was met with unanimous adulation and brought in our highest attendance numbers to date with over 300 people attending the evening event and over 250 bags of “free” popcorn being handed out. Fol-lowing the documentary, the panel of speakers (Tasha Hubbard, Keith Goulet, Dr. Karla Williamson and Peter Burns), shared their personal stories of struggle and sac-rifice in the face of a rising tide of policies that have dis-enfranchised northern communities. This allowed for a discussion about how such policies are produced with-out consideration, consultation or discussion with the communities that are directly affected by them. The committee looks forward to exploring other opportuni-ties in addition to the annual film festival to coordinate events promoting social justice and anti-racist educa-tion.

EQUITY AND ANTI-RACISM COMMITTEE

REEL TO REAL FILM FESTIVAL

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INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION SERVICE

T he Intercultural Education services were launched in September of 2016 and offer Inter-cultural Training Sessions by request for the community organizations or individuals. SIA is

licensed to administer the IDI® (Intercultural Develop-ment Inventory) and this tool is used to provide Inter-cultural Competence training to groups and individuals through debriefing and coaching sessions. The IDI is a powerful assessment tool that is used to assess and re-flect on cultural competencies based on a continuum of 5 stages ranging from a more monocultural mindset to an intercultural or global mindset.

This service was provided to several individuals and the training is in process for all staff at SIA. In February 2017, the service was provided to the Canadian Bar As-sociation for the midwinter meeting and encompassed a 2 day workshop of IDI assessment and debriefing, based on the relevance of the Intercultural Develop-ment Inventory to legal practice. These were successful and well attended presentations, resulting in potential for implementing the training in the future for organiza-

tions that were represented at the conference.

SIA also offers Intercultural Competence presentations by request and presented a customized session for the University of Saskatchewan Academic Advisors for their professional development day. Two staff members par-ticipated in the Intercultural Facilitator Training through the Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan and as a re-sult are certified to provide intercultural training on be-half of MCoS by request.

I n 2016 we introduced the CILISAT testing at SIA. CILISAT is short for Community Interpreter Lan-guage and Interpreting Skills Assessment Tool and is facilitated in partnership with CISOC (Cultural

Interpretation Services for Our Communities), based out of Ottawa, Ontario. In 2016 we developed a partnership with the Saskatoon Police Service, and their Cultural & Educational department as test administrators for their Police Interpreters. Through CISOC, we can test 50 lan-guages, and have since administrated tests outside of our partnership with the police, to the public. The exam tests the strengths of both English, and any of the 50 languages or dialects chosen by the participant. SIA’s CILISAT Administration team tested 40 participants in 2016, and we are projecting this number to grow in 2017.

INTERPRETER TESTING SERVICE

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PARTNERSHIPS

A Regional Newcomer Gateway

WELCOME!! As the walk-in welcome centre for the Sas-katoon Gateway region, the Newcomer Information Centre (NIC) offers a one-stop-shop for information and referrals that promote successful settlement into the community. The NIC is a unique partnership pro-ject co-funded by Immigra-

tion, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and the Ministry of the Economy, Province of Saskatchewan and governed by the NIC Partnership which includes: Saska-toon Open Door Society (SODS), Global Gathering Place (GGP), Saskatchewan Intercultural Association (SIA) and International Women of Saskatoon (IWS). RESOURCES Friendly and knowledgeable staff are here to welcome all newcomers and are ready to help! Clients can also access the computer resource centre and copier machine (for fax, print, copy and scan) to meet their settlement needs. Telephones are also available for local calls. As well, Canadian Language Benchmark Placement Tests (CLBPTs) can be provided if clients meet the provin-cial eligibility requirements. 2016-2017: It was another busy year for the NIC, which included the strengthening of many pre-arrival

partnerships, steady client interactions, growth in out-reach to rural gateway communities and an increased community involvement. The NIC was able to embark on an exciting project that had the centre partner with Mount Royal Collegiate’s Art Club to create a welcom-ing mural at the centre for all newcomers to enjoy and even the Mayor of Saskatoon commended this partner-ship for its positive impact on the Saskatoon communi-ty. The NIC looks forward to future community partner-ships to continue to build inclusion in the coming years.

April 2016-March 2017 Year-end Totals

Total Visits 6,895

Total Inquiries from newcomers 7,431

Total referrals made by NIC staff 15,784

Total Pre-Arrival Welcome Emails sent by NIC Staff 565

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TREASURER’S REPORT

I am pleased to report on the financial performance of the Saskatchewan Inter-cultural Association Inc. (SIA) for the year ending

March 31, 2017.

For this fiscal period, total rev-enue was $2.03 million, a sig-nificant increase of approxi-mately $863,000 (or 74%) over

the previous year. This stemmed from a spike in de-mand for the SIA programs, matched with sufficient funding secured from both Federal and SK provincial governments. Especially significant was the double ex-pansion in the LINC program compared to the prior year 2015/16. The upward trend in program demand over the past few years further confirms the ever-growing importance of the programs and services offered by the SIA. Directly linked to this is the continuing increase in the newcomer population over recent years.

In line with the increase in demand for SIA programs and services, the expenses for 2016/17 went up to $2.04 million, an increase of $793,500 (or 64%) over the past year.

Around 97% of total expenses is attributable to program

expenses as detailed in Schedule 2. About $42,000 (i.e. 2%) in administration costs was not mandated to be al-located to any program. Part of this was covered by oth-er funds raised by the SIA through measures like art events, equipment rental, interpretation services, etc.). The resulting deficit for the year is ($8,745) or 0.4%, which moved SIA’s results 89% towards a financial bal-

ance, compared to last year. The slight deficit of $8,745 is due to SIA not being able to fully recoup part of the admin-istration costs not covered under programs.

Another significant movement was in the capital assets investment totalling $237,285, an increase of $210,317 (i.e. 780%). This was included under the funding for SIA relocation as increased facilities meant more equip-ment, furniture and fittings.

Capital assets are amortized over a number of years, re-sulting in only the prorated portion of the cost of the asset being recognized in the current year and

the remainder of the cost being spread over the esti-mated useful life of the asset.

The audit firm of Twigg & Company Chartered Account-ants audited the financial statements of SIA for the fis-cal year 2016- 2017 and issued a clean audit opinion. This means that the financial statements are a fair rep-resentation of the financial position of the SIA, in ac-cordance with Canadian Accounting Standards for Not-For-Profit organizations.

As in prior years, the SIA Finance and Administration staff is continuing to focus on program-specific revenue and cost allocation reporting and are working diligently to streamline the internal summary financial reports for its key programs and services.

On behalf of the SIA board, I wish to thank the Finance and Administration staff for their hard work and contin-ued efforts to improve the financial reporting and inter-nal control processes of the SIA. I appreciate the sup-port offered to me during the past 4 years as the SIA Treasurer. All the best in the new location!! - Winnie Mutswangwa

$0.00

$20,000.00

$40,000.00

$60,000.00

$80,000.00

$100,000.00

2016 2017

SIA Deficit

$180,000.00

$200,000.00

$220,000.00

$240,000.00

2016 2017

SIA Capital Assets Investment

$1,166,200 $1,244,700

$2,029,500 $2,038,200

$0

$500,000

$1,000,000

$1,500,000

$2,000,000

$2,500,000

Revenue Expenses

SIA Revenue and Expenses

2016 2017

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38

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SIA 2017—18 BOARD OF DIRECTORS SLATE

Name Position Term Status

1 Mark Brown President 2017 - 19 Nominee

2 Caroline Cottrell Vice President 2017 - 19 Nominee

3 Heena Desai Treasurer 2017 - 18 Nominee

4 Secretary 2017 - 18 Vacant

5 David Parkinson Past President 2017 - 19 Ex officio

6 Jared Brown Director 2016 - 18 Continuing

7 Sam Sambasivam Director 2016 - 18 Continuing

8 Dave Hannah Director 2016 - 18 Continuing

9 Shenuka Wick-

ramasinghe Director 2017 - 19

Nominee

10 Ayesha Baig Director 2017 - 19 Nominee

11 Winnie

Mutswangwa Director 2017 - 19

Nominee

12 Emmanual Barker Director 2017 - 19 Nominee

13 Bob Cram Director 2017 - 19 Nominee

14 Raj Dhir Director 2017 - 19 Nominee

15 Director 2017 - 19 Vacant

16 Director 2017 - 19 Vacant

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A SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR FUNDERS:

601 B 1st Avenue North

Saskatoon, SK S7K 1X7

Phone: 306– 978-1818

info@saskintercultural.org

The Government of Canada's Skills Link Program