Citizenship and Immigration Canada provides grant to JFS to fight Racism

Citizenship and Immigration Canada has provided a substantial grant to Jewish Family Services of Ottawa in order for them to develop and implement a program to fight racism and promote the adaptation of immigrants. The program will provide training to help frontline workers in the settlement agencies of Ottawa to deal with biases and prejudices expressed by newcomers, which can impede their successful settlement and settlement in Canada.

The idea for such a program came from the executive director of JFS, Mark Zarecki, after an incident at a meeting of the Program committee of the Carleton School of Social Work close to a year ago. During a normal exchange of ideas between colleagues a frontline settlement worker from another local agency stood up and stated “…it is well known that the Jews were behind the attacks on the World Trade Center and it was a proven fact because all the Jews had been warned to stay away from the area that day.” As the shock of the statement settled in, Zarecki awaited a response but the room remained silent.

After the meeting, Zarecki approached the executive director of the agency where the person making the statement worked. The outcome of the conversation was the confirmation that prejudices, which not only included anti-Semitism but also Islamophobia, disdain for Christians, homophobia and negative views of women as well as other groups, are serious issues within the settlement area and often impede the adjustment process.

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After moving expeditiously to obtain the grant from CIC, and with the support of LASI (Local Agencies Serving Immigrants), JFS proceeded to develop a full scale program to address the issue of racism and how it can impede immigrant settlement and adaptation in Canada.

Rubin Friedman, the Anti-Racism Project Coordinator, and a post WWII refugee himself, was charged with the daunting task of developing a curriculum. Friedman is quick to remind us that “The training material and the associated training sessions just constitute another step to more widely address the issues of racism
and prejudices in the settlement process.”

Friedman stressed the importance of engaging settlement workers. “Immigrant settlement workers are at the forefront of helping newcomers adjust to their new environment and should serve as a bridge to assist them in making the transition from their old society to their new one using the values of equality and respect for others that are enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This project will help workers in dealing with the prejudices and biases of newcomers which can prevent successful adaptation to Canadian life. It will also help newcomers address the systemic discrimination directed at them. All of us, including settlement workers,
have to become conscious of and deal with our own prejudices if our societal ideal of openness and mutual respect is to be achieved.”

Farah Aw-Osman, an outreach worker for Jewish Family Services, knows first hand the importance of adjusting to a new environment. Aw-Osman, originally from Somalia, immigrated to Canada twenty years ago. Since then he has overcome several of the challenges that face new immigrants including language and education. “It is important for me to help those who choose to come to Canada. We have dreams of a better life, a better place, but not all [immigrants] recognize the difficulties and the adjustments that come with immigrating. I need and I want to help others to overcome the barriers and help their dreams of a better future for themselves and their families come true.”

Joining Friedman and Aw-Osman is Roshan Musa. Musa has dedicated herself whole heartedly to this project.
While growing up in the Ivory Coast, Musa attended a school with close to 400 students representing over 75 nationalities. It was not until she immigrated to Canada and attended Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania that she experienced any sorts of racism. Musa pointed that it was not the classic racism that North American have come to understand. “Coming from a school where over 75 countries were represented, I was Roshan. It was not until I came here, to Canada and went to University that I felt and saw people categorize me based on my gender, my nationality, my religion or my skin colour. All of a sudden I did not feel like a whole. I was either an Afro-Arab, an African-woman or a Muslim Woman and every category could have a political implication.”

Although all three of the Anti-Racism Unit workers are immigrants their experiences upon arriving to and living in Canada have been extremely different. Friedman has encountered classic racism and anti-Semitism while growing up in downtown Toronto and other forms of hatred more recently. For Musa, it was the constant need for people to categorize her, never acknowledging her as a unique person. While Aw-Osman has never experienced racism first hand he is well aware of its existence through incidents that have occurred within his community.

Even though their experiences differed, the underlying questions are the same “Why do these people think in categories of race, ethnicity, gender and religion? Why did some want to hurt me, my friends and my community? How could this be changed? How can we recognize and celebrate our diversity without using categories to put down others?” In his exploration of these questions, Aw-Osman came to this conclusion, “No one is born a racist, but it’s a learned behavior. Thus, education and awareness is the best way to uproot the evil.” The others agree.

The first training session is planned for March 3rd, 2008 with participants from Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization, Catholic Immigration Centre, Jewish Family Services, Ottawa Chinese Community Services Center, Women Services Ottawa, Somali Center for Family Services, World Skills, and the Lebanese and Arab Social Society.

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