2013 Summer Newsletter - Saskatchewan Intercultural Association

Summer 2013 Issue
Message from Our New President
It is my pleasure to extend best wishes to our membership and our community
on behalf of the Saskatchewan Intercultural Association. Our AGM on June 20th
saw a number of changes: I assumed the position of president as Dr. Jay Kalra
moved into the role of past president, replacing Nayyar Javed. SIA expresses its
sincere gratitude to both these individuals. We also saw some board members
depart with our thanks, and welcomed new board members who bring their
individual strengths and enthusiasms to our organization.
In this Issue
President’s Message P.1
Welcome Board Members P.2
Congratulations to Dr. Kalra P.2
The Mentorship Project: An Internal Success Story P.3
Spend the Summer
with ConnectED P.4
LINC Literacy Graduation P.5
Looking forward to the coming months, we face a number of challenges in
terms of advocacy and providing programs promoting our mission to eliminate
racism and discrimination through the promotion of intercultural understand-
Get to Know Us P. 6
Summer Fun! P.7
ing. SIA is growing, like our city and province, and with
that growth comes new challenges that can only be
met by working together as a board with staff, our
membership, partners and sponsors. We are also
starting to plan for our 50th anniversary in 2014 celebrating half a century of service. Please be a part of this
landmark event!
I wish you and yours a safe and most enjoyable summer.
David M. Parkinson, President
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Welcome Board Members
We would like to welcome our Board Members, as we are very excited to invite them into our SIA family!
Back (Left to Right): Caroline Cottrell, Pratyush Das, Ron Wheeler, Darron Taylor, Karl Martens, Peter
Grant, Gerlinde Sarkar, Ana Lilia Jurado, Raj Dhir
Front (Left to Right): Daniel Rubiolo, Jay Kalra (Past President), David Parkinson (President),
Tracy Muggli (Vice President), Sam Sambasivam (Secretary)
Missing: Winnie Mutswangwa (Treasurer), Sadeq Rahimi, Carlos A. Guzman Perez
Congratulations to Dr. Kalra!
The Saskatchewan Intercultural Association would like
to congratulate Dr. Jawahar (Jay) Kalra, the past President of SIA on winning the 2013 RBC Top 25 Canadian
Immigrant award.
provincial awards including The Queen Elizabeth II
Diamond Jubilee Commemorative Medal (2012), Pioneer for Advancing Multiculturalism and Diversity in
Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan Equity and Diversity Association (SEEDA)
Dr. Kalra is a dedicated physician and man of humility
Award, (2006); Saswho believes in the equality of the human spirit rekatchewan Centengardless of cultural and ethnic background in life. He
nial Leadership
has demonstrated exemplary community and volunAward for contributeer services with high ethical and moral standards
tion to Province
and his heart-felt and lifelong commitment is clearly
(2005); Sask Culture
visible in his over 25 continued years of volunteering in
Volunteer Award
Saskatchewan.
(2003); and The
Dr. Kalra has been very active in promoting the core
Queen Elizabeth II
values of cross-cultural and youth development, the
Golden Jubilee
promotion of human rights, the support of community Commemorative
diversity initiatives and the community integration of Medal (2002).
new Canadians. Jay has received many community and
2
The Mentorship
Project: An Internal
Success Story
The Mentorship Project is pleased to
report it is running in its 15th year of
existence with the Saskatchewan Intercultural Association (SIA). Over the last
15 years, the Mentorship Project has
been working to create a link for professionally trained Newcomers to connect to their specialized field in Saskatoon. Along the way, this program has
had many successful stories. Jess
Hamm, the Mentorship Project Coordinator reports “those are the best days,
staff to join SIA and had participated
Hamm notes that “we are very
when participants come back to tell me
in the Mentorship Project back in
proud to have Smriti with us
they ‘got the job!’ and you get to share
February of this year. Karki is origi-
and it is a win-win for the or-
in their excitement and be proud of
nally from Nepal where she got her
ganization to hire from one of
their hard work.” Hamm’s fellow co-
Bachelor of Business Administration.
its programs. We feel it is a
worker, Haven Seto who is the Work
She moved to Dallas Texas in 2004
great way to show that we
Placement Coordinator for the Project
where she got her Masters of Busi-
‘walk the talk’. We don’t just
believes, “volunteer work experience is
ness Administration and worked as a
expect other companies to give
invaluable as it provides the participant
Manager in Customer Relations. She
newcomers an opportunity. We
an opportunity to share and gain new
moved to Saskatoon at the beginning
live by it too”. Karki is excited
skills along with expanding their pro-
of 2013 where she got admittance
for her future at SIA and says, “I
fessional network”.
The Mentorship
into the Mentorship Project. Karki
look forward to growing with
Team are both in their 5th year of
says, “the program helped me by
the organization and enhancing
working at SIA and aside from their
preparing me for the interview pro-
my skills while contributing to
good humored teasing of each other;
cess and gave me a realistic view of
the community”. SIA is thrilled
they appear to have a great working
how to approach the Canadian job
to be able to not only support
relationship that contributes to the
market”. Karki successfully complet-
the programs it runs but also
successes of this program.
ed the classroom portion of the pro-
gain the valuable skills and ex-
gram and had a short work place-
perience that these potential
Since SIA is a smaller organization, it is
ment in administration at Tron Pow-
employees bring with them. SIA
rarer for openings in employment, but
er before applying to SIA’s Office Co-
is proud to add Karki to the SIA
3 weeks ago, SIA was pleased to have
ordinator position. Karki already re-
family and looks forward to
the opportunity to provide an example
flects positively on her first 3 weeks
learning from her as she con-
to other employers by hiring one of the
of working for SIA by saying, “SIA is
tributes to the future successes
participants from the Mentorship Pro-
already like a family to me and so far
of the organization!
ject. Smriti Karki is one of the newest
the experience has been wonderful”.
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Spend the
Summer with
ConnectED!
What are you up to this summer?
The ConnectED summer program for
immigrant and refugee teen girls aged
13-18, has been a lot of fun this year!
Combining sports & recreation, arts &
crafts, ESL lessons, and field trips these
girls are given the chance to make new
friends, get to experience all that Saskatoon has to offer in the summer, and
start the school year feeling more confident and prepared. This year, the girls
that are registered in our program
come from South Korea, Guatemala,
Iraq, Vietnam, the Ukraine, the Philippines, Pakistan and China.
planned! We will be painting pottery
at the Wet Paint Pottery studio, visiting the Saskatoon Forestry Farm
and Zoo and even touring the City
Park Community Garden and learning more about CHEP’s community
garden program. We also plan to
play tennis at Riverside Badminton
and Tennis Club, do some volunteer
work around the city in order to give
back to our community, and take an
exciting overnight trip to Pike Lake
Provincial Park!
Since the program started on July 2nd
2013, we have done some great activities including, two field trips out of
We are so happy to spend our summer with these girls and look forward to the rest of the program!
town to Fort Battleford National Historic Site and the Saskatchewan Science
Centre in Regina; tours of the University of Saskatchewan, Marca College, and
the Frances Morrison Library. The girls
have also participated in a soccer workshop, a yoga class, a self-defense class
& have played badminton and basketball at the Shaw Centre. We have even
done some great arts and crafts including learning how to draw with pastels
and charcoal
and making papier-
mâché animals!
In our upcoming weeks in August, we
have
even
more
exciting
events
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LINC Literacy Graduation!
As the ongoing literacy program is
We were able to visit a local bank to
winding down for its summer break,
learn how to use ATMs, travelled to
we are saddened to be parting, but
Batoche to learn about Louis Riel
excited for two participants who are
and Canadian history, visited a farm
graduating from the program! Our cur-
to learn about agricultural aspects
rent participants originate from Mexi-
of Saskatchewan, and engaged in
co, Iraq, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Congo
various fitness activities in several
(D.R.), China, and Moldova! We are so
leisure centers around Saskatoon!
proud of Guadalupe and Isteevan who
are moving on to LINC 2 and have
made astounding leaps and bounds in
their English proficiency since they first
started! Isteevan first arrived in Canada
in July of 2012, and was assessed at a
Pre-Benchmark level for her CLB before
she began the program in October
2012. Now, a mere 9 months later,
Isteevan is moving on to her level 2!
Though this program runs continuously
throughout the year, we will miss our
participants during the two week break
in the summer. This summer we were
able to do some fun activities including
several educational field trips!
We have also learned about native
Canadian animals by visiting the
Saskatoon Zoo, and even went to
the Saskatoon Public Library to give
participants the opportunity to read
books leisurely and continue to improve their literacy skills. We also
learned how to read recipes by baking a cake together!
We had an amazing group of participants this summer and can not
wait to return in late August! When
we return from our break, we are
excited for new participants to join
us and to continue learning!
A Word From our Graduates and Participants:
“I like …. everything in English class! Read[ing], writ[ing], listen[ing], and talk[ing]”
“I will miss my teacher, [….] My friends, [… ] my classroom”
“I learn[ed the] history [of] Canada, many topics, [and how to] find address[es] on computer”
“My favorite part about this English class [was going to the] Bank, Library, Broadway, Batoche, and
farm”
“I like everything in English class. I like [the] worksheets Gina give[s] me”
“My favourite part about this English class is the history of Canada”
“I learn[ed] how [to] speak English and how [to] write and different places, I learn[ed about] the
provinces and capital of Canada”
5
Get To Know Us!
Know us better as we feature 2 of our staff members in every issue of our newsletter.
Gabrielle Bouchard
(ELT Mentoring Coordinator)
Scott Mickelson
(Connector Program Coordinator)
Where you came from: All over Saskatchewan!
Interesting Facts: I like cats and I can fly
airplanes.
Congratulations!
Quirks: I like nuts on my ice cream.
Places Travelled: Costa Rica, Jamaica,
and all over Canada
Favourite Food: Anything Mexican and
cheeseburgers (usually not together).
Pet Peeve: Movie talkers - People who
talk through movies.
Why you love it here (at SIA): The people
are amazing!
What you love about summer: Camping,
hiking, campfires, s’mores and long summer nights!
Where you came from: Saskatoon, SK!
Interesting Facts: I have many hobbies
including sports, photography and constructing things (furniture or completing renovations)
Quirks: I’ve had a beard for over 5
years straight!
SIA would like to congratulate our former
ELT Coordinator, Amee
Joshi and her family on
their new baby, Siya!
Siya is Amee’s second
daughter and was
born on July 25, 2013.
Congratulations!
Places Travelled: Europe, Asia, Central
and North America
Favourite Food: Nepali
Pet Peeves: I dislike distracted drivers
Why you love it here (at SIA): I love
assisting and meeting people new to
Saskatoon
What you love about summer: Getting
to go canoeing, exploring and fishing in
the lakes of Saskatchewan.
6
Summer Recipe:
Cool Spanish Gazpacho
Ingredients:
2 lbs ripe juicy tomatoes
1 garlic clove
1/2 an onion, white type (not sweet)
1 green sweet pepper
1 cucumber, about 6-7 inches long
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 cup virgin olive oil
1 piece French bread (3-4 inches long
piece)
1. Peel and coarsely chop the garlic
clove and onion.
2. Rinse tomatoes and remove stems.
5. Place the piece of bread in a bowl
with water in order to soak it. Once
soaked, put all water away, squeeze
the soaked bread with your bare
hands as much as you can and set
aside.
6. In a good blender or food processor put the tomatoes the garlic, onion, pepper, cucumber, squeezed
bread.
7. Add all of the remaining ingredients and crush all up at the highest
speed. Blend until most pieces are
crushed (becoming the consistency of
puree).
7.Pour it in a jar or bowl and let it chill
well in your fridge. Do not freeze!
3. Coarsely chop the pepper and remove seeds.
Serve it in bowls as a first course for
4. Peel the cucumber well to remove
any meal. Enjoy!
all of the dark green peel.
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