Moose Jaw’s local Rotary Clubs have combined with the Moose Jaw Multicultural Council (MJMC) to present a fundraising dinner featuring food, music, dancing, and fashion from the city’s diverse cultures.
The dinner takes place Friday, March 10 at St. Andrew’s United Church. The doors will open at 5:30 p.m., with the event starting at 6 p.m.
Tickets are $35 each, available online from SaskTix.ca or in-person from the Moose Jaw Events Centre Box Office.
Dinner guests will experience some of the diversity that newcomers to Moose Jaw bring, with the goal of appreciating their contributions and uniqueness. For an additional cost, guests will also be able to participate in a silent auction, 50/50 draw, and a Sudanese Coffee Experience.
A sneak peek of menu items includes Somalian Sambusa, Ethiopian Injera and Lentils, Ghanaian/Congolese Meat Stew, Afghan Rice, and Syrian Pistachio Raha.
The entertainment lineup will include dancing, music, and fashion from countries such as the Phillipines, Ghana, Sweden, Colombia, Peru, Nigeria, and Ukraine.
“They love sharing their cultures,” said Stefanie Palmer, executive director of MJMC. “We’re all proud of where we come from, right? And for newcomers to be able to showcase that to others, any chance they get is very exciting.”
“You need to bring it down to a personal level,” said Glen Blager, a member of the Moose Jaw Rotary Club. Blager noted that Canadian culture is inherently a melting pot, and said that his own family’s experiences — they lived and travelled extensively in South America, particularly Brazil — have enriched their lives.
“Finding out what other people do and how they eat and celebrate, it helps right down to a personal level — my life and my family’s life and our city’s life. It’s amazing.”
The MJMC has hosted six previous international dinners, but this will be the first in three years because of the pandemic. The funds raised will help newcomers with costs that fall outside the MJMC’s regular funding, such as emergency situations, Christmas presents, basic necessities, or transportation.
Glenn Hagel, a member of the Moose Jaw Wakamow Rotary Club who is also a former mayor of Moose Jaw and provincial politician, pointed out that in addition to the benefits of being multicultural and appreciating diversity, immigration is also essential for Canada’s future.
“There’s lots of room for growth for Moose Jaw people’s consciousness of the multicultural presence we already have in our city,” Hagel said. “But also, just in the context of Canada, it’s becoming more and more obvious that the future well-being of the nation economically and culturally has to do with being open and having people coming in.”
Palmer agreed and said that Canadians need to be practiced in accepting, learning about, and building communities with newcomers.
“When you talk about economics and things like that, I mean, it’s immigrants who are going to be filling many of these jobs, right? We don’t have the Canadian-born population to keep up, so if we don’t get ahead of the game, we’re going to fall behind.”
“This event will be valuable in a very immediate and personal way to the people who are coming,” Hagel added, “but at the same time, in a way that becomes increasingly valuable over time to the community of Moose Jaw.”
Moose Jaw’s Rotary Clubs teamed up in April 2022 to host a fundraising dinner for Ukraine. That dinner raised over $12,000 which was sent to Ukraine for humanitarian aid.
Other newcomer communities in Moose Jaw include Somalians, Afghanis, Ethiopians, and Syrians — all countries with ongoing conflicts that have also seen the deaths of hundreds of thousands and the displacement of many millions of people.
Those growing communities are a result of Canada’s humanitarian immigration stream, Palmer explained. The economic immigration stream sees mostly people from India, China, the UK, and Nigeria.
The MJMC is currently seeking sponsors and volunteers for the dinner, and item donations for the silent auction. Those interested in contributing should call the MJMC office at 306-693-4677 or email reception@mjmcinc.ca.
