GUELPH – With the back drop of Canada Day, the Rotary Club of Guelph Trillium partnered with Freedom Trail Canada and Danby Refugee Program to host a special Canada Day welcome to women newcomers, many of whom are refugees.
The club held a session at 10c Carden on Canada Day and their 4th floor meeting room was decorated with artwork by a Muslim artist originally from Uganda.
Women from Afghanistan, Ukraine, Syria and Iraq came, along with a couple of little boys who came with their mother.
And MP Lloyd Longfield and MPP Mike Schreiner also popped in to welcome the women.
The gathering featured speakers from Chalmers (local foodbank) Immigration Services, Hope House, the Clothing Closet, and the Arab Women’s Society, as well as the partners Freedom Trail and Danby Refugee program.
We also invited the police to speak, recognizing that for many of the women, the police were viewed as a threat in their country of origin,” officials state in a press release.
“We were pleased to have (Guelph Police) chief Gord Cobey and female officer staff sergeant Mel Clark speak to the group.”
One woman from Syria said that the police in her country were “monsters” and her daughter was scared of the police.
That attitude changed when at a local event, an officer gave her daughter a frisbee and befriended her. The talk from Cobey and Clark also went a long way to alleviate fears, officials state.
All told, the event proved successful and marks the beginning of some strong partnerships in the Guelph community that the Rotary club intends to explore further.
“And for the women who attended, hopefully they left feeling less alone and perhaps one step closer to feeling at home in Canada,” organizers state.
