As a part of the South Saskatchewan Community Foundations 50 Vital Community Conversations project, the City of Moose Jaw and the South Central Regional Immigration Program (SCRIP) hosted a luncheon to hear feedback from newcomers in the city.
Around 100 guests took part in the forum, and project manager Dalise Hector felt there was a great turnout and a lot of good feedback. The forum took place in four languages — English, French, Swahili, and Arabic — and addressed both the needs and accomplishments of the community.
“The whole point was to look at how we can strengthen community through the presence of the newcomers who have made our community their home, and also how we can improve things for newcomers through our community,” said Hector.
Transportation was one of the concerns mentioned, which Hector said has offered more information about how to address such an issue.
The forum offered a chance for organizations to hear from newcomers, but Hector was also pleased to find that it offered a chance for newcomers to feel more included within the community.
“[It was a chance] for all of those organizations to also hear a newcomer perspective and see how they might adjust things going forward and their programs or projects, so I think it was a huge benefit that way,” said Hector.
“I think people are kind of calling for more conversations like this. There was more awareness,” added Hector. “Some newcomers are not even aware of in what way they can lend their voice to community building. So the awareness, I think, was already a chance for us to grow together as a community.”
Much of the feedback also indicated that newcomers feel welcome in the notoriously friendly city, which Hector feels is a great starting point for the future. She hopes to see more forums like this one in the future, to continue to collect feedback.
“We're looking for feedback from the whole community. We're glad about the turnout we had, but we know there's others who have thoughts on things,” said Hector.
Hector noted that SCRIP will likely do a forum like this annually, if possible, and that newcomers can certainly contact them to contribute their opinions any time.
