#immigrant services

If you’re a newly arrived immigrant to Canada, chances are that things here are pretty different from home. So here’s some information that you may find useful on a resource you may or may not have had in your country of origin:

 Public Libraries

 If I had to name the most useful service I’ve used as an immigrant, this would be it.

No matter what other service you need, your local library can help you find it. All you have to do is to ask for help at the service desk and a librarian be more than happy to look for the information you need.

Canadian libraries carry more than just dusty old books -- they have movies, video games, magazines, you name it – and some of it is in other languages. They even have material that you can use online and programs and activities for all ages, interests, and needs.

Programs can be about anything and everything under the sun – story time for children, game night, conversation circles for ESL learners, a presentation on how you can make your garden bee-friendly, a movie or documentary night, classes on how to use a certain technology (e-readers, the internet, a certain computer program, etc), book clubs, the list goes on. If you’re moving somewhere where there’s a high population of people who speak your language, your library may even have story time in your language!

Note: What programs you have access to will depend on what your library has to offer at the moment.

Most libraries also have settlement help, and those that don’t are more than happy to pass along information for you on your local settlement service.

If you’re moving to Alberta, you can find a list of the libraries in the province (and their websites) here. If your new home isn’t on the list, don’t worry! All towns have the right to use their nearest library. And all Albertans have the right to an Alberta Library card, which allows you to ask for material from any participating library.

“You stand with me, and I stand with you”

This is what Pope Leo XIV told Bishop Seitz and the delegation from America ministering to the migrants along the border. It is a statement of solidarity between our Holy Father and the migrant ministries here in the United States. America magazine captured this momentous meeting in a recent article. I added the link below. In this one paragraph the magazine author, Gerard O’Connell, succinctly described the goal of this dialogue.

“The church cannot remain silent” about the situation of migrants in the United States, Pope Leo said. According to Bishop Seitz, the pope made clear that he wants the Catholic bishops and the church in the United States “to be united” on this crucially important issue, which is “a matter of human dignity.”

At that meeting the Holy Father was presented with letters from immigrants and their children that deeply moved him. The result was this statement of solidarity with the American Church which he hopes will respond further to the immigration crisis we face.

This statement was captured by America magazine and with this meeting we see that Pope Leo XIV is gearing up the Catholic Church in the United States to make a strong stance on the immigration issue.

The Pope met with Bishop Seitz from El Paso and in the interview that followed Bishop Seitz was asked what he would hope the U.S. Catholic Church could accomplish, his response to this was this.

I would be delighted if we could emerge from our November meeting with an approved statement expressing our love of our immigrant peoples and our respect for their dignity, and calling on the U.S. government to share that respect for those who have come in and have been quietly working and serving people who fled here to protect and preserve their families against threats from governments and extra-governmental actors against their lives. To recognize again that we are a country that has been built by immigrants and still depends upon them, and that we need to express those principles that were expressed by our founders: that we are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, and those are always to be respected, and due process always to be respected. We need to be reassured of that in the United States today.

The meeting took place on October 8th, just a day before Pope Leo XIV’s first social teaching on the love of the poor was published. In this meeting we could see that the Holy Father was already identifying the U.S. migrant community as part of the poor and marginalized communities that was the target of his social exhortation. The Pope would tell the delegation:

You have a very great task in your hands—to accompany people who truly, deeply need a sign that God never abandons anyone: the least, the poorest, the stranger, everyone.

Welcoming, integrating, promoting, and accompanying, are the directives agencies like Catholic Charities took from Pope Francis in how we respond to our migrant communities. This week we have been given a clear signal that this is what Pope Leo XIV wants us to continue doing. With our borders closed we are less focused on welcoming as we are on integrating those who are here and are afraid of the situation they face because of the political reality under the Trump administration. But as the Church we are granting them the resources to be empowered as responsible members of our communities. The same statement of solidarity that Pope Leo offers Bishop Seitz could be said about our position with our migrant communities. You stand with us and we will stand with you.

Our church has always stood with migrants just as it too has spoken for the poor and vulnerable communities throughout its history. This is obviously not about to change as Pope Leo reminds us of the place of migrants and refugees within our own theological loci.

Related to this, Pope Leo also met last week with a delegation of labor leaders from Chicago where he offered the following message of ministerial gratitude to the migrant communities.

Above all, please know of my appreciation for your welcome of immigrants and refugees, especially your support of food pantries and shelters. While recognizing that appropriate policies are necessary to keep communities safe, I encourage you to continue to advocate for society to respect the human dignity of the most vulnerable.

When I walked into a local nonprofit helping immigrants, I felt the team’s energy and dedication. They were all about helping newcomers adjust to life in a new country. But, I wondered how they kept their spirits high despite the tough challenges they faced. These nonprofits are key to our communities, but they struggle to keep a positive vibe. They often count on volunteers to get things done,…

writer/director/producer marti noxon (btvs, mad men, a million others) is currently matching donations to RAICES (in partnership with/prompted by sydnee mcelroy of all people), if folks keep giving she’s gonna round up:

As I reflect upon my experience interning at Hope 4 Immigrants Coalition of Long Island, INC., mixed thoughts and feelings come to mind: working with a start up nonprofit whose operations depend completely on volunteer hours and donor funding is both an advantage for our organization and a hardship. The vitality of our immigration center very much depends upon the time commitment of our 5 person volunteer staff and dedicated Executive Director, who opened the doors to H4I in February 2015. Our status as a start up means that all staff members contribute to tasks regardless of office hierarchy in order for our center to run accordingly, and because of that my duties vary on a daily basis. It is because of this dynamic that I've learned a variety of skills that might be otherwise inaccessible within a fully established organization. For example, I teach English to our Ecuadorian secretary, and she teaches me Spanish; I work alongside our paralegal to become familiarized with filling out USCIS forums; I work with our attorney to learn immigration as a bureaucratic process, this work is centered on distinguishing which clients we can help and those we can't; I'm an overall assistant to our Executive Director and maintain communication with our clients.

It is because of this dynamic that I've learned a variety of skills that might be otherwise inaccessible within a fully established organization.

I feel my experience this summer is unique mainly because the immigration center is still establishing itself and becoming familiarized with our surrounding community. I often think about how my role within H4I may have differed if the center was fully established, with years of experience and salaried employees watching over me for 8 hours a day. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be part of the work that helps this organization grow. This internship requires that I be adaptable and prepared to think on my feet to interact with people from all walks of life and manage the growing pains of center to the best of my ability.