Cultural Diversity and Inclusiveness For Calgary’s Community Associations

November 7, 2009 Calgary Community Sustainability Conference

Jason Luan, Social Planner, Family and Community Support Services, City of Calgary Marichu Antonio, Executive Director, Ethno-Cultural Council of Calgary

Welcome and Introductions

Participant Mapping Activity(Sociogram)

Workshop Themes and Objectives Theme I: Trends and the Changing Context:

Increased understanding of the value of Cultural Diversity and Inclusiveness

Theme II: Community Associations and Ethno-cultural Communities: Increased awareness of opportunities, mechanisms and process for interaction between the two

Theme III: Action Points: More ideas on ways to work together

Theme I:

Trends and the Changing Context

Trends: The Changing Demographics Calgary, the 4th largest centre receiving new

immigrants in Canada Calgary, the 3rd municipality in Canada to achieve a

population of one million people Calgary, one-in-four are visible minorities Calgary, high in-land migration and high labor

shortage

Five Myths and Facts about Immigrants

Myths and Realities of Life

for Immigrants in Calgary (Research from United Way of

Calgary and Area)

Myth #1Foreign trained professionals are not as

qualified as Canadian professionals

Fact: More than 21% of physicians were foreign-

trained; 22% and plus are practicing in Alberta (2008 CMA)

Myth #2 Immigrants are a burden on the Canadian

EconomyFacts 60% of recent immigrants to Alberta have

college or university education (2004 CIC) 10% increase in immigration results to 1%

increase in exports

Myth #3

Immigrants do not want to work.Fact: 70% of the overall growth rate in labour

force are made of new immigrants (1990s)

Myth #4Immigrants take away jobs from Canadians.Facts 50% of immigrants with post-secondary credentials

are under valued in employment (CIC 2006) New immigrants are three times more likely than

Canadian-born workers to be found in low-skills jobs (The Globe and Mail 2008)

Myth #5Immigrants bring crime to Canada.

Fact: Immigrants in Canada have lower overall

crime rates than the Canadian-born population (Statistics Canada 2006)

Reflections on Cultural Diversity and Social Inclusion What does it mean to you? Your perspectives and stories Functional definition:

Asking who is not involved and why Talking directly to those not involved to find the

answers Engaging different perspectives

What’s at Stake?

High cost of not integrating Racial tension Social segregation Perception of increased crime Social and health cost Business relocation/loss

Who Benefits from social inclusion and diversity? A win-win approach for all

Welcoming community Cohesive and integrated community

Theme IIWorking Together -

Community Associations and

Ethnocultural Communities

What the Changing Context means to Community Associations?

A shared responsibility for us all A need to bridge the gap An opportunity to vitalize our community

Ethnocultural Groups/Associations

Grouped according to country of origin, race, language, ethnicity, faith

Mostly city-wide, with relative concentration in some geographic areas

Activities range from issue response, welcoming newcomers, heritage, dialogues with institutions and decision-makers

Examples

Ethno-Cultural Council of Calgary (ECCC) Community-based organization with 27

member-organizations Aims to facilitate collective voice of visible

minorities Towards active civic engagement of visible

minorities in social, economic and political affairs of society

ECCC Members

African Sudanese Caribbean Eritrean SomaliFrancophone

Asian Indian Chinese Vietnamese Filipinos NepaleseJapanesePakistaniTibetan

Latin American Salvadoran Peruvian

Middle Eastern Kurdish Palestinian

Teachers Literary Professionals Engineers Businesses

Types of Projects & Activities Welcoming newcomers Heritage and language instructions Sports Cooking together Children’s education Neighbourhood groups and concerns Issues: ESL, Racial Profiling, Recognition of International

Credentials

ECCCFCC

Community Associations (Geographic-based)

Ethnocultural groups/associations(Culture-based)

Individuals

Levels of Interaction

Discussion

Opportunities and challenges of working together

Finding a common ground Developing mechanisms for mutually

beneficial relationships Levels of interaction and engagement

Theme III

Action Points

Group Discussion Questions1. What were your experiences interacting with

ethno-cultural groups or individuals?2. What have you learned from the past

experiences? 3. What new ideas do you have for bridge-

building?4. How can we move forward?

Summary of Ideas for Action Report back Summary Commitments

Our aspiration: To create an inclusive community that values immigrants as assets and welcomes them to be fully integrated in our community

Further Contact:Jason Luan Marichu AntonioPhone: (403) 456-6856 (403) 263-9900jluan@calgary.ca marichu.antonio@ecccalgary.com