welcoming culturelink host community n welcoming … · 2013-03-10 · welcoming community news...

By Kristin Schwartz

pedestrians alike. The

Toronto Cyclists

Union was represented

by staff Andrea Garcia

and Moe Berrigan.

Volunteers Francisco,

Kate, Vicky, Angela and Manpreed extended

their warm welcome

to newcomer partici-

pants. Thanks are also

due to the CultureLink

staff and interns who

supported this new

venture, and Darren

Sustar and the whole

video team for their

professionalism and

enthusiasm.

WWWELCOMINGELCOMINGELCOMING COMMUNITYCOMMUNITYCOMMUNITY NNNEWSEWSEWS

CultureLink HOST

September 2010

Welcoming Community News

Bike Host Launch on the

Toronto Central Islands

“At CultureLink we believe that::

Newcomers are critical to

Canada’s future;

Our staff and volunteers

are our organization’s most

important resources.”

Inside this issue:

Bike Host 1

Bike Host Pictures 2

Trip to Niagara Falls 3

Volunteer success 4

Gardeners’ Field Trip 5

Global Roots Garden 6

Summer Youth Theatre 7

Contact us 8

Early fall in Toronto

brings warm afternoon

sun and chilly evening

breezes. We had the

opportunity to experi-

ence both on Saturday

September 11 on the Toronto Islands, with a

group bike ride and

picnic that launched

CultureLink’s Bike

HOST.

This new addition to the HOST

program will match

Toronto cyclists with

newcomers who also

like to bike. We hope

that this shared activity

can be the basis for

rewarding friendships

that promote healthy

living, environmental

sustainability and

community engage-

ment. If it’s successful,

the Bike HOST

program will expand

and enhance Toronto’s

cycling culture.

We already see

signs of success

sprouting from this

event: matches were

made ―organically‖

right on the spot. We

even had a surprise

visit from two friends who first met when

they were matched by

CultureLink Host

Program three years

ago. Evgenia from

Russia, learned to ride

a bike with her match

Sarah and they have

cycled together ever

since.

Thanks are due

to many volunteers,

especially Mai Nguyen

who helped in planning

the event, and Michel

Paré from the Gay

West Bicycle Club and

Queer West Arts

Centre. He promoted

the event and helped

guide a group around

the Islands, a car-free

haven for cyclists and

Welcoming Community News Volume 1, Issue 11

Bike HOST Launch, Saturday September 11, 2010 on the Toronto Islands

For many newcomer participants, this is their very first time to roast marsh-

mallows on campfire - ―it’s a very North-American thing,‖ they said, and

―Heavenly, it’s delicious!‖


―It was amazing to see how people from diverse cul-

tural backgrounds got together to rejoice Canada’s

natural beauty and its attractions.” D.L..

Niagara Falls

A joyful day at the Falls

By Dolora Leka

It was a bit showery but that did not stop

our guests from joining the Host team for

the Niagara Falls bus trip. The bus filled up

very quickly, so the tour group got to the

destination earlier than expected. Picking the

right location for this trip was not that diffi-

cult as newcomers would never abandon the

idea of visiting the most popular attractive

place of Ontario, such as Niagara Falls. It

was exciting to see that newcomers had

brought their friends or family members

along with their host matches to make

memories that will last forever.

After spending the day at Niagara Falls, the

guests were grateful and pleased in experi-

encing a day with some of the most enter-

taining options of the Falls. This wonderful

place brings thousands of people every year

together from different parts of the world to

visit this spectacular wonder that nature cre-

ated. It was amazing to see how people from

diverse cultural backgrounds got together to

rejoice Canada’s natural beauty and its at-

tractions. The multicultural group was happily

sharing laughter, rides and interesting stories

while exploring the Falls. Hearing different

language dialects coming together in one

common language made me think how di-

verse and welcoming Canada has now be-

come.

The trip was made possible by Government of

Canada and Tim Hortons.


Hello Fei,

I would like to thank you for

your support. Your recom-

mendation played

a crucial role in my attaining a

position LINC Instructor in the LEAD programs

(Language Education at a Dis-

tance) at the Quality Continu-

ous Improvement Centre

of Community Education and

Training located in Missis-

sauga. I will be working from

home teaching....wow! This

means I will have the time to

take on my community vows

and get involved with Culture-

Link without the intense and

consuming strain of job hunt-

ing.

This is going to be an experi-

ence to say the least.

Once again I would like to

thank everyone at Culture-

Link who supported me,

shared their

knowledge in the various

workshops ect. The first

who permitted me to step

forward with grace and re-

spect after my long absences

from "My home and native

land...".

Keep the faith, strength

and passion that guides

your mission.

I hope you have a great

year... you are an ex-

ceptional person.....

Keep in touch.

Take Care.

Amy

Annual General Meeting

Monday October 18, 2010

at 6p.m.

A Host Volunteer’s Success Story

A Letter from Amy K.

MARK IN YOUR CALENDAR

“The matching program

provides ample opportuni-

ties for both the newcomer

and the host volunteer.”

A Fun-filled Farm Trip of Our Garden Project Participants


By Rebecca Butler

Newcomer seniors and youth involved in the Global Roots Garden project had a wonder-ful opportunity to go on a field trip to a working farm outside of Toronto. This trip was or-ganized by CultureLink’s HOST program and New-comer Youth Centre in col-laboration with The Stop Com-munity Food Centre, Vineland Farm and Ontario’s Greenbelt. On August 19th over 30 Global Roots Garden participants piled onto a school bus out-side the community garden. Youth and seniors alike chat-ted happily on the bus ride and some seniors even brought grandchildren to en-joy the trip. We were taken to a farm called Vineland where researchers are busy experi-menting with crops rarely grown in Canada. They are currently growing Fuzzy Melon, Callaloo, Okra, and many unusual varieties of Eggplant. The kind folks at Vineland cooked the veggies for us and the participants were invited to taste different ways of preparing them. We then had the opportunity walk through the farm and enjoy the beauty and quiet of rural life. The gardeners were also given lots of produce to take home, so they could help test

the veggies and see if growing them in Canada is really working! Every-one was very excited to cook and taste vegetables that were very familiar (for some people) and al-together new (for others).

Mark in your Calendar—Evergreen , September 26

11 a.m. Sunday September 26, 2010

Join CultureLink for a walk, bike ride, and visit to

the Evergreen Brick Works.

The Evergreen Brick Works is a former industrial site in the heart of the Don

Valley ravine. It is being transformed into an environmental learning centre

with gardens, walking areas to explore, a farmers market and good healthy

food, an ice rink and more. Bike culture is central to the Brick Works. There is

a fleet of bikes which are available to use for learning and for group rides.

The Brick Works is celebrating its grand opening with a community festival on

Sunday September 26. From 11am to 4pm, there will be music, art and a

chance to explore. Three bike rides on nearby nature trails are planned. If

you’d like to experience this great new resource with a friendly group of new-

comers and welcoming community hosts, join us!

Meet at 11am Castlefrank Subway Station, at the fare collector booth.

It is a 15 minute walk to the Brickworks.

Bring snacks for yourself and a water bottle.

We plan to be at the Brickworks until about 2pm. You may leave anytime.

There is a free shuttle bus from the Brick Works to Broadview station.

Seniors pick out some produce to try

Photos by Francisco Vidal

Global Roots Garden

Open House


By Rebecca Butler

On September 2nd 2010 par-ticipants of the Global Roots Garden project held an open house so members of the community could come and see their beautiful gar-dens and learn more about the project. The seniors took charge of preparing delicious snacks from their cultures and worked hard all afternoon to make Chi-nese dumplings, Italian zuc-chini fritters, Polish perogies, Columbian stuffed zucchini, Filipino dip and South Asian roti. Many of the vegetables used came from their very own gardens! When they were not busy helping with chopping, peeling and fry-ing, the youth were making beautiful signs for the gar-dens and then graciously serving food to our guests.

The evening brought some lovely recognition of the hard work that the seniors and youth have been putting into the garden all summer. Ontario’s minister of immi-gration, Eric Hoskins at-tended the event along with Charles Hain representing Ontario Trillium Foundation, Joe Mihevc councilor for Ward 21, and of course Ibra-him Absiye CultureLink’s Executive Director. Garden-ers and community members alike appreciated such big support and returned the fa-vour by serving delicious food and offering visitors

Polish senior participants serve up some soup

Filipino Gardeners with Mr. Hoskins

A senior participants shows off her harvest

The Latin American Garden

Youth participants relax together

Summer Youth Theatre


Newcomer Youth Centre’s Summer Theatre Program 2010:

Objects of Identity – The Things That Make me, Me.

By Francisco Vidal

This year’s Summer Theatre Pro-

gram at The NYC proved to be a

major success! Our Theatre Pro-

gram employed 8 newcomer and

refugee youth - for eight weeks in

July and August - to collectively pro-

duce, write and act an original play –

the result being Objects of Identity

– The Things That Make me, Me.

Our Theatre Coordinator Nikki

Pascetta guided and coordinated the

youth performers throughout the

whole creative and performance

process. The youth performed the

play at CultureLink’s Offices; the

Bloor and Gladstone Library; and

outdoors at the Global Roots Open

House – Whychwood Barns.

The play focuses on the individual

stories of the 8 youth performers

and it’s divided into 8 scenes - each

tracing their ―Objects‖ of identity to

their home countries or previous

countries of asylum.

The play opens up with a descrip-

tion of how a newcomer youth’s

identity is torn between the ―Old

Me‖ vs. the ―New Me‖ in Canada.

There are two boxes holding their

memories – old and new - containing

―Sad memories‖, but also happy

ones. The youth depart from that

premise and act each scene with few

aides and prompts; their perform-

ance focusing more on sound and

movement to transport the audience

to places and situations all over the

world: from a beautiful country

house in Colombia’s Manizales, to

the relative safety of a refugee camp

near Kinshasa; from armed conflict

in Tibet, to an immigration lawyer’s

office in Toronto. There, at the law-

yer’s office, a refugee claimant has a

flashback when asked to fill up his

Personal Information Form (PIF) de-

tailing the events that led him to leave

his country and seek protection in

Canada. The flashback is powerful and

captures the horrific reality of having

to revisit one’s persecution in order

to make a case for protection in Can-

ada.

All the scenes are beautiful and

powerfully delivered – the subject

matter is heavy with emotion at times,

but a balance is reached when the play

closes with an excellent choreography

that showcases the youth’s music and

dance from their home countries.

You can catch an abridged version of

Objects of Identity to be performed at

CultureLink’s Annual General Meeting

on October the 18th at 7 PM.

You can catch an abridged version of Objects of

Identity to be performed at CultureLink’s Annual

General Meeting on October the 18th

at 7 PM.

MARK IN YOUR CALENDAR

Photos by Francisco Vidal

CONTRIBUTORS

Fei Tang

Newsletter Supervisor; Host Manager

Barbora Gomezova

Host Program Counselor;

Newsletter Coordinator

Kristin Schwartz

Newcomer Cycling Outreach Co-ordinator

Dolora Leka

Host Program Counselor

Francisco Vidal

NYC Coordinator

www.welcomingcommunity.ca

CultureLink

2340 Dundas Street West, Suite 301

Toronto, ON M6P 4A9

Phone: 416-588-6288

Fax: 416-588-2435

CultureLink HOST

CultureLink is a settlement agency located at

Bloor and Dundas West in downtown Toronto.

For twenty-one years, we have upheld our mis-

sion:

CultureLink is dedicated to facilitating the

independence and full participation of newcom-

ers in Toronto’s diverse community. Culture-

Link works within an anti-discriminatory frame-

work to ensure a respectful, safe and inclusive

environment.

We hope you have enjoyed Volume One, Issue

11 of our Welcoming Community Newsletter,

and that you will enjoy future issues.

Know someone who wants to join

Culturelink’s Host Community?

Have them sign up!

Volunteers, Newcomers

Fill out our online Regis-

tration form, at:

HOST Program

is funded by:

The Host Newsletter invites you, the mem-

bers of the CultureLink Community to

share your story with us. Please send your

story, comments and thoughts to:

[email protected]

Amy K.

Host Volunteer

Rebecca Bulter

Youth Program Worker

welcoming culturelink host community n welcoming … · 2013-03-10 · welcoming community news...

Documents