When you walk down a street in a regional town, the odds are that many of the people you pass are descendants of people who, at some point in the distant or near past, have come from abroad in search of a better life. It’s easy to lose sight of where we have come from and the contributions made by newcomers that have helped the community get to where it is today. Local identity is also shaped by indigenous populations who should be recognised and included in community planning.
Towns that keep sight of where they have come from and value the contributions of past migrants find it easier to welcome other newcomers.
In 2016, when the town of Missoula, USA first started thinking about resettling African refugees some locals were apprehensive about how they would fit in. It seemed a radical idea for the town. Located in central Montana, most newcomers in recent years were students from other parts of the USA. There was also some concern within the indigenous community. The region’s history of dispossession, dislocation and removal of land from Native American people meant that there was resistance to allowing outsiders into their community. Community leaders were vital in responding to these concerns and appealing to Missoulians’ shared identity as a tolerant and unified place.
Some Native American community leaders spoke out vocally in support of bringing the refugees, encouraging others to think about their shared human values. Mayor John Engen took every opportunity to remind locals that it was only 40 years ago that over 350 Hmong refugees were resettled in Missoula from Laos. “There will come a time when Missoulians won’t remember when Congolese tradition wasn’t part of the Missoula tradition in the same way today that we really don’t remember when Lao tradition wasn’t part of who we are. The grandchildren of those refugees are now represented at the Missoula Farmers Markets, where their produce is renowned, and their contribution to the community is widely recognised and celebrated.” Mayor John Engen.
Any newcomer attraction strategy needs to start with recognition and acceptance of the need for change and engage all levels of government, community leaders, business and civil society to make it work.
In this video, locals from Nordland County, north of the arctic circle in Norway, discuss what it takes to plan a newcomer attraction strategy.
If you’re Somali in St. Cloud Minnesota, some media outlets would have you believe that it’s the worst place in the USA to be. But my time there showed me otherwise.
Somalis have been singled out as a ‘dangerous’ group through a government-imposed travel ban which prevents new refugees (including family of those already in the country) from entering the USA. However, in spite of increasingly negative rhetoric, Somali Americans in St. Cloud are thriving and revitalizing the economic and social fabric of the community.
“Instead of
(the public) hearing from the media, now we’re telling our own narrative. That
helps the Somali communities and the communities that lived here before get to
know each other better and accept each other”, local Abdi Daisane told me.
So what’s it really like to live as a Somali in St. Cloud? Are the insular days of ‘White Cloud’, as St. Cloud used to be known, gone?
In 2015 when thousands of desperate refugees starting streaming into Germany from Syria and Iraq, the country just had to respond. There was no time to prepare the community. There was no time to put the services in place. There was no time to setup orderly procedures.
People were
there. And they needed help.
In the peaceful Oberallgäu region of Southern Bavaria, the refugee crisis seemed like a problem for cities like Munich – only 2 hours away by train but far enough to be out of mind. The tightknit, largely Catholic community had gone relatively unchanged for a long period of time. Only small numbers of foreigners came into the region (mostly for work) and this went mostly unnoticed.
That is until
the German Government announced their policy of dispersal. Suddenly the refugee
crisis became a nation-wide shared problem, or shared solution you could say. It was thought that the distribution of
refugees across the country would help to avoid issues with concentration in
particular cities. The Oberallgäu District Government were quickly requested
to advise how many they could accept.
They looked at their county of 150,000 people, spread across 28 towns with populations ranging from 200 – 20,000 people. Each town was directed to accept 1% of their population of refugees. As the number of refugees continued to rise, this grew to about 2% (where it remains). This of course was met with mixed responses. But peer pressure between towns helped urge less supportive ones along. It was a shared problem so it was only fair that every town played their part. Very soon around 1,700 refugees were in Oberallgäu.
Most locals
I’ve spoken to describe the years of 2015 and 2016 as ‘chaos’.
But one thing I have experienced on this Fellowship is that out of crisis; compassion, resourcefulness and creativity flourish.
Today I visited one of the region’s 43 refugee accommodation facilities, a converted army barracks in Sonthofen, Oberallgäu’s largest town. At its peak, it accommodated around 280 refugees. Now it’s home to almost 70 people, with many living there for around 3-4 years.
Shipping container accommodation for single men
The central government was overwhelmed, so it was up to each region to figure it out themselves. “We agreed to take 1,700 people, but then it was up to us to find somewhere to house them”, a District employee told me. With few vacant private rental properties on the market they had to get creative.
Shipping containers were fitted out as basic accommodation. Vacant restaurants were converted into living spaces.
“We had never done this before, so we just had to use what we had in the community and get on with it”. What they had were villages of people who when called upon, didn’t think twice about volunteering to do whatever they could.
During my visit today I was struck by the enormity of this kindness. These images will stay with me as a moving reminder of our humanity.
Thousands of people came forward to donate items. A year ago this massive space was floor to ceiling full of boxes with donated clothing and household items for refugees.
Hundreds of volunteers sorted through donated items and staffed the collection rooms.
Students from the nearby school decorated this toy room and volunteers put on daily activities for the refugee children.
A Doctor voluntarily visits the accommodation weekly to provide free consultations to refugees.
Volunteers offer one-to-one consulting with refugees to help them work through problems as they arise.
Most of the volunteers had no prior knowledge of refugee issues. They responded to human need with compassion and pragmatism.
And through the process, they learned about what it means to be a refugee and heard the individual stories of trauma, loss and survival. The community realised that refugees were people just like them. A form of education and awareness-raising on the go – far more powerful than any news story or training seminar could ever be.
Oberallgäu continues to support its new residents as they build a future for themselves in the region. While their needs have evolved to be more about German language learning, employment and social participation, volunteers stand ready to scale up efforts and reinstate on-arrival emergency supports at a moment’s notice.
“We know that the situation in Syria and Iraq could worsen, or that a new conflict could escalate at any time, meaning more people who need our protection” a volunteer tells me. “Next time we will be more ready”.
Rural towns are full of rednecks and racists. Owen Sound is shattering this stereotype one community sponsor at a time.
For a town of 20,000 people, it has experienced a lot of change over the past few years. The catalyst was the Canadian Government’s policy to allow community groups to sponsor refugees. So far 25 refugee families have arrived, with others now also choosing to relocate to Owen Sound from different parts of Canada.
Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada
It started with a couple of key leaders, including a church minister who organised a community meeting at the local church in September 2015. 75 curious and compassionate locals showed up, many of whom had been touched by the image of 3 year old Alan Kurdi’s body washed up on a beach in Europe.
Out of this meeting, a small number of church members put their hand up to form the first sponsorship group. They brought out an Eritrean refugee family of seven. Other locals
watched keenly from the sidelines. The Eritrean family were well-liked by the
community and settling well. You can do it too – was the message filtering out
through the town.
Monthly meetings were organized at the church to encourage others to get involved. This turned into the Grey Bruce Newcomer Network which harnessed the groundswell of support as other sponsorship groups quickly began to form. The volunteer network became a way for the community to self-organise, support one another and share insights and challenges. With the nearest funded settlement service more than 150km away there were no existing services close by and this made it even more important for the community to educate themselves to ensure that refugees were provided with the highest possible level of care and welcome.
Now it’s Thursday night in Owen Sound and I’m participating in a lively open night event at the Arden Language Centre. Diversity seems the norm here. Adult English students from all different backgrounds are proudly showcasing their culture and the building is alive with colour and vibrancy.
Open night at Arden Language Centre
Responding
to a lack of English language services in the region, the school was started by
husband and wife-team Andy and Dave after the first refugee families started to
arrive. “Here we do more than just teach English” Dave tells me, “we build
human connections”. The school relies on over 50 volunteers to teach just over 40
students. On top of the incredible language and literacy outcomes the school
has enabled for students, the personal relationships formed between volunteers
and students have been powerful in influencing broader community acceptance for
refugees and newcomers. And importantly, this has helped newcomers feel welcome
and like they belong.
Owen Sound didn’t need everything to be perfectly in place to become an inclusive new home for refugees – the community responded as the need emerged. But it started with leadership and a seed of compassion.
With the church minister, who brought ordinary community members into a conversation around diversity and social justice. And the first pioneering sponsorship group, whose endorsement and encouragement paved the way for other locals to become sponsors. And Dave and Andy, who not only responded to a gap in services but recognised the importance of getting locals involved.
Arden students write their goals for Fall 2019. This has been a great way for school volunteers to learn what else they can help refugees with outside of class.
What Owen Sound teaches us is how big social change can often start with the leadership of one or two trusted and respected community champions. It also shows us the power of personal connections in sustaining positive change.
“Of course
racism still exists here”, a local tells me, “But the difference now is that
when one guy makes a racist remark in the pub, there’s 2 or 3 other guys around
him to tell him to shut the ** up. And he shuts up pretty quickly!”
New
Brunswick holds the title for the province with the fastest declining
population in Canada. In 2016, the province’s population dropped to 747,101
from 751,171 in 2011 – a decrease of 0.5% in five years.
This unprecedented demographic shift is down to an ageing population (approximately 20% over 65 years old), the increasing rate of young people leaving for bigger cities and a low birth rate.
New
Brunswick is also the poorest province in Canada – currently recording the
nation’s lowest median household income.
A sense of
foreboding looms heavy in the air, dominating the topic of conversation of the
couple next to me in a local café.
People in the capital of Fredericton are worried about very serious things – the health system is struggling to cope under a stretched budget and will continue to heave under the costly strain of servicing an ageing population. Government
attempts to address a shrinking tax base by increasing taxes will push vulnerable
people further to the margins.
When the
Syrian war broke out, the province put its hand up to settle an unprecedented
number of refugees. In 2015 the first Syrian refugees started to arrive and by
2017 Fredericton claimed a title they are proud of – the city that has settled
the largest number of refugees per capita in Canada. 500 refugees arrived in a
city of around 55,000 within the space of a year.
Our schools
are often the first places to notice the impacts of big community and societal
changes. They are also well placed to respond as established and trusted institutions.
Sometimes this happens before policy has a chance to catch up. But in Anglophone
West School District, which includes 69 schools and 23,000 students, the influx
of Syrian refugees became the catalyst for being proactive with a new policy
approach.
“We wanted our policy to be best practice and searched long and hard for examples across Canada and overseas” the school district team told me.
Where they
landed – a policy of inclusion, which has been adapted by the province and is
now at the core of everything the schools do.
Providing
inclusive public education means taking a student-centred approach to ensure
that each and every student’s experience at school takes into account their
individual strengths and needs. It also means being respectful of diversity and
removing any barriers to learning – which includes ensuring that educational staff
have the knowledge, skills and resources needed to provide effective
instruction to a diverse student population.
Inclusion at Fredericton High School
An example
of this is the Newcomer Support Centre. All newcomers who wish to register
their children for school in the Greater Fredericton area are first invited
into the centre for a one-on-one appointment to answer questions about the
Canadian school system and undertake an individualized assessment of their
child’s level of English as well as their social history. This enables any
required supports to be linked in from early on, but also provides families
with a point of connection to other useful services and information to ensure
every success for their child’s educational outcomes.
Shifting our way of thinking to centre around inclusion through intentional policy setting can be a powerful means of driving social change.
In the case
of the Anglophone West School District, they hope that cultivating a mindset of
inclusion that starts with the students, parents and teachers in their schools
will help to reinforce broader community acceptance of diversity.
Fredericton Newcomer Partnership Council
This is but one of a range of intentional measures being taken in Fredericton to grow and retain a new population. I met some of the town’s key champions at a meeting of the Fredericton Newcomer Partnership Council. The Council oversees the Fredericton Local Immigration Partnership (LIP), a local multi-level governance collaboration which aims to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for newcomers. Over the past five years, the LIP has been at the forefront of driving community support for newcomers, establishing a range of working groups to implement initiatives and galvanize whole-of-community efforts. It is coordinated by Ignite Fredericton, the local economic development agency and includes members from a range of sectors including government, business, education, training services, colleges, library and health.
Such planned, coordinated and intentional measures pay off. According to an elected Councillor from the City of Fredericton I spoke with, community attitudes have come a long way in the past 5 years. Acceptance of cultural diversity is now the norm. While some of this has happened spontaneously as more and more newcomers arrive, to a large extent it is the incremental actions aligned across sectors that seem to have made the biggest difference. This has enabled change to come from within.
Syrian refugees are choosing to stay in Fredericton, and they are fetching family members from other parts of Canada to come and join them.
Halifax is a regional city that’s doing immigration differently. With a population of around 420,000 the harbour-side shipping hub located on the central part of the Canadian Atlantic has transformed itself into a thriving global city.
For a long time Halifax was struggling to keep young people and attract and retain newcomers. But this has all changed with 8400 new immigrants and refugees moving to the city in the last two years, the highest number ever.
The unemployment
rate is at its lowest since 1976.
The municipality is now processing more building permits than
ever before. In 2011, the city issued permits for 96 new residential units. In
2017, that number soared to 1,040 units.
Halifax’s
tech talent pool has grown by 28% over the past five years, adding 2500 tech
jobs.
Halifax seems to have found the sweet spot in making
themselves attractive as an immigration destination and wrapping their arms
around people when they arrive to keep them there.
When you hear Mayor Mike Savage speak, it’s hard not to catch
on to his infectious vision and can-do approach. Much of Halifax’s success as a
city of new immigrants seems to be down to the leadership he has shown over his
six years in office.
The large numbers of newcomers flocking to the town are not
only now the norm, but something which the city holds up and celebrates. An integral
part of Halifax’s identity.
Talent, location, cost and innovation.
This is the unique values proposition Halifax uses to set itself apart when attracting people from overseas and other parts of the country.
But if you ask me, it’s the smaller gestures that are equally, if not more significant to Halifax’s success.
Like the free public transport passes provided to all refugees.
Or the Mayor’s Welcome Party, a big annual reception to
welcome new international students, help connect them to local organisations
and build social connections.
Or the Connector Program which matches newcomers trying to enter the labor market with established business people and community leaders. The program has been scaled up across other parts of Canada and exported to Sweden and Switzerland.
In the words of Mayor Savage, “It all comes down to all
orders of government, plus civil society and organisations working together, to
not only bring people here but to really make them feel comfortable here, because
we want them to stay”.
Halifax highlights
the critical role that local government plays in shaping a positive narrative
around diversity and mobilising local people to come together and make it
happen.
In 2016, Halifax Regional Municipality passed a landmark motion
to enable permanent residents to vote in municipal elections. The rationale –
those who contribute to the life and economy of the city should have a say in
local government. While Provincial approval is still being sought to enable
this to happen, this move further reflects the incredible support for
immigration in the town.
Today on my way to the airport, I asked my taxi driver – a born and bred Halifax local in his late 50s, for his honest opinion. I was trying to see if I could scratch beneath the glossy surface. I’d heard of a disapproving term used by some locals to refer to newcomers as “CFAs” (Come From Aways). He thought about it carefully.. “Oh no, we only use that for people that come from other parts of Canada. Immigrants and refugees are fine!”.
