Multicultural Council wants residents’ questions about newcomers and immigration

With more immigrants calling Moose Jaw home, the Moose Jaw Multicultural Council (MJMC) is reaching out to residents to see what questions they have about newcomers arriving in Canada.

What role does the government play in helping refugees? Who’s coming here? How does immigration affect the economy? Who are the different types of immigrants? How does racism affect newcomers? How should people interact with non-English speakers? What are some of the cultural traditions, clothing styles, languages, and religions newcomers bring?

Those are some questions residents could conceivably submit. For those curious about the immigrant community but too shy to inquire, the Moose Jaw Multicultural Council is making the process easier by allowing people to submit their questions anonymously. 

The link to submit questions is https://forms.gle/4gtySnVLK5znTbZP6.

“I decided to take a Q&A approach because, for one, I thought it would be good to open up a space for the community to ask questions they have without being identified,” said Kaleigh Pousett, community connections co-ordinator. “I think maybe some people would have questions that they would be embarrassed (or judged) to ask because they think it’s a silly question or maybe they feel they should know the answer to this already … .

“So I think, too, it will be interesting for us to see what kind of questions come in because then we can know how better to meet the public,” she continued. “And what kind of things we should even be talking about or the conversations we should be starting in our city to help continue building bridges between the newcomer community and the long-time Moose Jaw community.”

This initiative — something the MJMC has never done before — is being held in conjunction with the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on Monday, March 21. 

“No genuine questions are off the table; if you have it, it’s very likely someone else does too,” she said, noting answering these questions will help counter the misinformation about refugees and immigration.

This Q&A program will be a trial run, and if enough people submit questions, this could turn into a broader community conversation, Pousett remarked. How this initiative turns out — and how beneficial it is — depends upon community engagement and whether people are willing to ask questions.

Pousett noted that the organization won’t pretend to have all the answers but will do its best to answer the questions. She won’t answer all the inquiries either, but instead, she will have the MJMC’s clients respond to a few when applicable.

“It could be great, and we could have some really good questions that we could address here,” she said. “If that happens, great, and if not, that’s OK too.” 

The Moose Jaw Multicultural Council has set up a webpage on its main site at https://mjmcinc.ca where residents can submit their questions. Starting March 1, the organization will review the questions and produce a Q&A sheet to distribute through the media and on the website. 

The series is expected to continue into April.

“There’s no such thing as a silly question if it’s genuine. If anyone has any questions about those things or related, please ask them,” Pousett added. “If you ask, there are probably a lot of others who might have the same questions.”