FIRST NATIONS FOOD HIGHLIGHT From East Van to Attawa- Food Literacy for children/youth piskat with Love. P14 in KCC. P18–19 – NEIGHBOURThe Kensington Cedar Cottage June 2016 • ISSUE 24 • SERVING THE KENSINGTON– CEDAR COTTAGE COMMUNITY Refugee Centre Opens Its Doors In Cedar Cottage United Way of the Lower Mainland: Welcoming our new neighbours. REFUGEES: P2–3 2016 YEAR OF THE PULSE! P18 PETER WOHLWEND NEIGHBOURHOODS PASSES AWAY Best neighbourhoods include? P20 Community says goodbye to Mr. Dickens. P6 2 THE KENSINGTON– CEDAR COTTAGE NEIGHBOUR • JUNE 2016 • ISSUE 24 REFUGEES The new ISSofBC Welcome Centre in East Vancouver. Vancouver Welcome House Opens Doors ISSofBC spearheads innovative new facility for refugees. █ by Caroline Dailly; ISSBC Staff e are working at a one stop Vancouver Welcome House offers endless op- minding program with indoor and outdoor space, shop for refugees that's un- portunities to staff of ISSofBC and organizations the multiple meeting rooms with kitchen, to the paralleled anywhere else in working with refugee claimants such as Inland youth–only space or the all–levels and all–shifts the world and I think such a Refugee Society, VAST and SOS. From the child LINC classes. CONTINUED ON PG 3. ► project really shows Canada's opennessW and acceptance of refugees and immi- grants. This building will have a very meaning- ful impact for newcomers feeling supported and “It is a bit like the Babel Tour here, you hear at least 10 to 12 welcomed.” different languages every single day.” This is how Mona Hassannia, RAP (Refugee Assis- tance Program) Counsellor at Immigrant Service — Caroline Dailly, RAP Manager Society of BC (ISSofBC), describes in a nutshell her new work environment. And it is true that JUNE 2016 • ISSUE 24• THE KENSINGTON– CEDAR COTTAGE NEIGHBOUR 3 ◄ CONTINUED FROM PG 2. Dailly, RAP Manager, “you hear at least 10 to 12 “Everyone loves the huge bright lobby” says Ange- different languages every single day. In the RAP lina Guino–o, who has been an receptionist for program, we are used to that, since most of our ISSBC settlement services for more than 15 years. clients and colleagues speak Arabic, Kurdish, “Neighbours are rushing in, happy to see the Farsi, Somali or Swahili, but here, with refu- building finally open. They want to see inside!” gee claimants and other immigrants, you add she adds. Spanish, Mandarin, Russian, Tagalog, etc. People start to congregate in the lunch room by lan- Angelina and Mona are also excited to see that guage group. It is quite funny to see.” anyone coming in, Government Assisted Refugee, Refugee Claimant, Privately Sponsored Refugee, Whatever language they speak, ISSofBC staff Temporary Foreign Worker, etc. can immediately hopes that neighbours will come to visit Wel- get services on site. “No more need to send peo- come House at 2610 Victoria Drive. We welcome ple away to another organization” says Angelina everyone to visit the building, we are so happy to “everyone is here and super accessible”. be your new neighbour. “It is a bit like the Babel Tour here” says Caroline Tecumseh Elementary students and the We Welcome Refugees art project. REFUGEES Tecumseh Students Reach Out At Welcome Lunch REFUGEES Syrian neighbours at the United For Refugees Welcome Lunch. █ by Carrie Froese; Vice-Principal, United For Refugees Tecumseh Elementary he students of Tecumseh Ele- Lunch welcomes Syrian neighbours to their new homes. mentary created a “We Welcome Refugees” art project for the Wel- █ by Jennifer Young; United Way of the Lower Mainland come Lunch. The project included Ta welcome suitcase; quilts with wel- coming messages; stories from students about their parents settling in Canada; n April 16th the United Way of the Low- to welcome our new neighbours to their new and key chains. er Mainland welcomed our new neigh- home.” bours from Syria to their new homes at We have a high population of English a United for Refugees Welcome Lunch at From November 4, 2015 to March 18, 2016, 1661 Language Learners. Most families have OTecumseh Elementary School. Local community Syrian government–assisted refugees have come to Canada as immigrants. Lessons agencies set up information tables, volunteers settled in B.C. to teach students about human rights staffed the lunch and activities, and new Cana- include participating in student elections, dians enjoyed a welcoming experience to our • Almost 1 in 4 is under the age of 6. celebrating Human Rights Day on Dec. community. • 60% are under the age of 18. 10th, participation in a variety of cultural celebrations, current events (i.e. Plight The lunch was a success because of the collabo- United Way of the Lower Mainland has a long of Syrian refugees), peace education and ration of our community partner agencies: MO- history of helping refugee families settle and curriculum based lessons. SAIC, Immigrant Services Society of B.C., SUCCESS integrate in the Lower Mainland. In 2016, it will and Pacific Immigrant Resources Society. None be investing $2.8 million into these programs The Suitcase Project was made possible of the lunches would have happened without the and services. Recently, United Way launched an due to grants from two groups: help of our tremendous volunteers. urgent fundraising appeal, “United for Refugees” to help Syrian children and families settle here Promoting a Culture of Peace for Children “United Way of the Lower Mainland’s vision is a in our community. To date, $175,000 has been Society of BC: http://wartoystopeaceart. healthy, caring, inclusive community for every- raised. org; and ReadingBC – BC chapter of the In- body,” said Michael McKnight, President & CEO, ternational Literacy Association: http:// United Way of the Lower Mainland. “We are so For more information go to: www.readingbc.ca proud of how our community has rallied togeth- http://www.uwlm.ca/refugees/ er, has opened its arms and doors and continues 4 THE KENSINGTON– CEDAR COTTAGE NEIGHBOUR • JUNE 2016 • ISSUE 24 Sharing Is Caring The Sponsorship Support Group █ by Pastor Kristi- Yet – our plan should soon also includes two children Where are we now? – We have to start all over again. na Breit; St. Mark’s be taken into a new direc- with ages of three and eight are waiting to sign the pa- Church tion. Some news around years. pers and then another long If you are interested in more Christmas about an Arme- time of waiting will begin. information or to support “Sharing is caring“ – this nian Church got our atten- It is the generous support It will take 9-12 months for us, feel free to contact St. was one of the first English tion. The Vancouver Sun – also from the neighbour- the government to pro- Mark’s Lutheran Church sayings I learned when reported about the efforts hood and community of cess the application and to (refugeeproject@stmark- I arrived in Canada sev- of St. Gregory Armenian Cedar Cottage – that has arrange for the transport of schurch.ca) or one of the en years ago. Now I have Church in Richmond who made it possible for us to the family to Canada. Pastors. Regular Updates on learned many more and had undertaken great ef- accept this sponsorship. We the project are given on the among them this one: “The forts to help Syrian Refugees. deeply appreciate all the Once an arrival date is set, website of St. Mark’s (www. more we share, the more we Though just a small congre- support and encouragement we will have to start looking stmarkschurch.ca) under have.” (Leonard Nimov). gation of barely 80 mem- we have seen and received into housing for our family “Refugee Project”. bers they had managed to in the last months. and make final decisions to- Both aspects of helping were sponsor almost 100 refugees gether with this family who present in parishioners from Syria. We decided to who approached us, the join and support them in Pastors of St. Mark’s Luther- their efforts. After initial an Church in September of contacts, we decided to go last year with the question: for a full sponsorship of a “What can we do to help family of four in coopera- those who are affected by tion with St. Gregory Arme- the war in Syria?” Pastor nian Church. Ermisch and I invited the people for a first meeting For all of us this has be- and in October the “Spon- come an interesting and sorship Support Group” was eye-opening encounter as officially formed. we not only started to learn about the war in Syria from It seemed to us that the people who had experienced urgent question to answer the conflicts first-hand, but was “How can we help in a also started to learn about meaningful way?” We in- the history and suffering vited a representative from of the Armenian nation Canadian Lutheran World and people, the Armenian Relief (CLWR), an organiza- church and the Armenian tion with a good record of communities in Syria and helping people in the direst Vancouver. situations. It is currently working with Syrian Refu- We have received some gees in the urban areas in information about our soon- northern Jordan and in the to-be-sponsor family. The Za’atari refugee camp in grandfather of the family Jordan. had been a blacksmith and had owned a workshop with After learning about the at least 10 workers,but due basics (What is a “Refugee”? to terrorist Islamic militant What are possible ways to groups in the region he has help? How does a sponsor- lost his livelihood. ship work? What models of sponsorship does the He and his wife will now government offer?), we join their son and his fam- decided to go for a blended ily in the venture to come sponsorship for a family to Canada as refugees.