AMSSA’s  30th Anniversary Celebration

130 people attended a gala dinner and fundraiser on Thursday, September 27, from 6:00 to 11:00 pm to honour the 30th Anniversary of the Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies (AMSSA). The event took place at the Executive Hotel and Conference Centre in Burnaby.

Margaret Gallagher, an award-winning writer and broadcaster acted as Master of Ceremonies at the event. She’s been a regular part of CBC Radio One’s The Early edition since 2001.

Wade Compton, a Canadian writer, editor, poet, turntablist and a creative writing instructor at Simon Fraser University, delivered the keynote address. His speech was about biraciality and storytelling, from the Epic of Gilgamesh to present day multicultural Canada.

Wally Oppal, Attorney General and Minister Responsible for Multiculturalism brought greetings from the Government of British Columbia.  

A special guest of the gala was Stockwell Day, the MP for Okanagan Coquihalla and Federal Minister for Public Safety and the newly appointed Senior Regional Minister for BC.  

The event featured an “Around the World” buffet, dancing, silent auction and door prizes. Entertainment was provided by the Cypress String Quartet and DJ Summer from Leap Frog DJ services.
                                                                                      
It was wonderful to see so many member agencies, funders, partners, friends and guests enjoying themselves at the Gala, enjoying wonderful food, great music and having a very good time while celebrating thirty years of work to support inclusion and diversity in our province. 

AMSSA would like to thank everyone who joined us that evening to celebrate 30 years of successfully building BC’s strength through diversity. In particular, a big thanks to our supporters: Vancity, ShawSabey, Channel M, Canadian Immigrant, Fairchild Radio, Vancouver Courier and all AMSSA members, the AMSSA Board of Directors, AMSSA staff. Now......onward to our 50th Anniversary!

Order Multifaith Calendars Online Now!

The 2008 Multifaith Calendars are fresh off the press with new images and dates of a range of religious holidays for the coming year.
The visual theme of the 2008 edition of the Multifaith Calendar is Communing Spirit.
Printed in full colour, with captivating photography, an easy to follow layout that will provide quick reference, The Multifaith Calendar will be a valued addition to any office or home... and makes the perfect gift!
To order a calendar today, call 604-718-2784 or toll free 1-888-355-5560. You can also log online to The AMSSA Store at www.amssastore.org

‘Promoting Healthy Living’ – 2008 Multicultural Health Fair

Plans are underway for the 4th Annual Multicultural Health Fair, which will be held at the Croatian Cultural Centre in Vancouver on Saturday, February 23rd.
The Exhibitor Info Package & Application will be posted online very soon. 

Visit www.amssa.org/healthfair2008/exhibitors.htm
if you would like to participate along with many other health organizations and community agencies and reach out to the Lower Mainland’s multicultural communities. 

We are actively approaching potential sponsors to support the fair, so if you know of an organization that may be a good fit or who may be interested, please contact Vivianne de Pass, Health Fair Coordinator at healthfair@amssa.org or direct them to www.amssa.org/healthfair2008/sponsors.htm for the 2008 Sponsorship Information.

We look forward to hosting another successful Multicultural Health Fair with the help of our many supporters!

AMSSA Expands its Services – Supporting Frontline Settlement Workers

AMSSA is very excited to be expanding our service provision to BC immigrant serving agencies’ frontline staff.  After a year of consultations and service development, we have now “rolled out” the Settlement Net web site, and are delivering frontline staff training opportunities. 

The Settlement Net site is BC’s first centralized web-based resource to assist settlement workers in their daily work.  The site includes “hot links” and secondary links on a broad range of settlement topics, such as education, housing, employment, and health.  It also includes ways for settlement workers to identify and communicate with one another between agencies for improved service linking.  Through the site frontline workers can also learn about professional development opportunities, relevant conferences and events, and media coverage of immigration and immigrant settlement.  The Settlement Net site is developed in the form of an “on-line community”, allowing any agency staff members to post information and respond to postings by other frontline workers province-wide. 

With direction from IICC agency managers and frontline staff, AMSSA is now delivering our first-ever frontline worker training at regional meetings.  With BC’s settlement sector undergoing unprecedented hiring and staff changeover, the need for training has seldom been stronger  AMSSA is partnering with the Legal Services Society to bring up to four lawyers to each region to provide current legal information of relevance to immigrant settlement service delivery.  AMSSA is very pleased with the Legal Services Society’s significant contribution to training settlement workers.  With the BC government funding new “labour market focussed” ESL and settlement counselling services, AMSSA is also engaging qualified employment counselling staff in our IICC member agencies to provide settlement workers and ELSA instructors with orientations to effective labour market service provision.  Initial feedback from our IICC members is very positive about AMSSA’s ventures into frontline staff training, and we hope to build on this model into the future as BC’s settlement sector expands and evolves. 

Towards a Healthy Multicultural BC

The ActNow Immigrant and Multicultural Engagement Project, funded by the ActNow initiative through the BC Ministry of Attorney General, was launched on Saturday, October 20, 2007 at the Northern Multicultural Health Fair in Prince George. The Honourable Wally Oppal, Attorney General and Minister Responsible for Multiculturalism, introduced the campaign to promote healthy lifestyles among BC’s newcomers and multicultural communities.

AMSSA staff attended the health fair to distribute the new posters and bookmarks and to provide an orientation to the new website (www.amssa.org/healthyliving). Visitors to the AMSSA table welcomed the project with much enthusiasm. Posters are now being distributed to immigrant serving agencies, neighbourhood houses, hospitals, clinics, schools, recreation centres, seniors centres and libraries across BC. Look out for them in a mailbox near you!

AMSSA is now in the process of organizing three more launches. The next launch will take place at the ELSA Net Conference on Monday, October 29, 2007 in Vancouver, where posters and bookmarks will be distributed. A seniors launch will take place at Britannia Community Centre in Vancouver in November and a youth launch will take place at Pearkes Recreation Centre in Saanich in January. Both launches will feature guest speakers, fitness demonstrations, healthy refreshments, fun activities, door prizes and more.

We would like to thank our project partners – the BC Ministry of Attorney General - Multiculturalism and Immigration Branch, ELSA Net, BC Recreation and Parks Association, Heart and Stroke Foundation of BC & Yukon, and the Canadian Diabetes Association – for their collaboration.
For more information about the project, please contact Ana Maria Bustamante, AMSSA’s Health Coordinator, at amssahealth@amssa.org.

Safe Harbour – Respect for All

Imagine you have been treated with disrespect in a shop you have visited in your neighbourhood.      

Maybe the clothes you wear are not mainstream enough and people have glared at you or called you names; perhaps you speak with an accent and staff members have not taken the time to listen to you. For many BC citizens, they face both subtle and overt forms of racism and hate every day. Now imagine seeing a colourful Safe Harbour decal in the window of the store you are walking past and feeling confident that you will be welcome and safe inside and treated with respect by the staff.

With support from The Settlement and Multiculturalism Division, Ministry of the Attorney General, AMSSA is coordinating the Safe Harbour Program to promote understanding and support for diversity in our communities. There are now over 283 Safe Harbours across BC, from family-run businesses to community policing centres to city halls. All branches of TD Canada Trust in Kelowna are Safe Harbours. The Duncan Rona store is a dedicated participant, as is the Terrace Public Library. Recently, the BC Ombudsperson, Kim Carter, made a commitment to attend an upcoming training session.

The program works to train staff members from publicly accessible storefront businesses, agencies, institutions, and government offices on ways of better responding to their diverse community members and creating more inclusive workplace environments. Some people think of Safe Harbour as a kind of Block Parent program for commercial areas, but the decal means much more than a safe refuge. It signals a connection point, or an understanding of needs. Someone who recognizes the Safe Harbour decal in their neighbourhood can enter knowing that their needs will be met as a newly-arrived immigrant from Thailand, as an Aboriginal youth, or as someone who uses a cane. Safe Harbours are places where staff and community members are creating a culture that recognizes the value of social inclusion and accessibility.

Safe Harbours are part of a network of leaders across our province who are not willing to simply stand by and let racism and hate take place in their community. Instead, they are actively reaching out to people of diverse cultures, ethnicities, religions, classes, ages, abilities, genders, and sexualities and making them feel more welcome. Please see our website www.safeharbour.ca for more information about how you can be involved.

Safe Harbour Youth Ambassador -

Youth to Spread the Seeds of Cultural Awareness

 BC’s future growth and strength is fueled by its strong, healthy, and diverse communities.
Growing those seeds begins with youth nourishing the values of safe and inclusive schools and communities. Built upon the success of Safe Harbour, the Youth Ambassador Diversity Program looks upon high school students to act as role models and lead other youth and children in addressing issues of racism and hate and how to respond to these issues. Youth will work together to welcome and respect everyone’s differences no matter what culture, ethnicity, religion, class, age, ability, gender, or sexuality they represent. 

With support from Canadian Heritage, funding was distributed directly to our nine Youth Ambassador Community Organizers throughout BC in order for them to promote the program to local schools, educators, youth organizations, and other community members. Next steps include recruitment and training of Youth Ambassadors teams to facilitate Children and Teen Safe Harbour Workshops. These fun, interactive workshops educate children and teenagers about exploring differences, standing up for diversity, and seeking a Safe Harbour or safe adult when needed.

It’s an exciting time as AMSSA and our Community Organizer partners are looking towards increasing the visibility of the Youth Ambassador Diversity program through building strategic alliances and media exposure. AMSSA plans to launch Youth Ambassador into 11 additional BC communities in the near future.

AMSSA’s Annual General Meeting

The 2007 AGM was held on Friday, September 28th at the Vancouver Museum. The AGM gave AMSSA’s members, staff, funders and supporters a chance to connect and network. It also was another opportunity to celebrate 30 years of progressive multiculturalism work. The 30th Anniversary cake was one of the highlights of the celebration. The honour of the cake cutting was given to the Past Presidents of AMSSA Gabrielle Martin and Ed Eduljee and the current President Emese Szucs. 

The Opening Prayer was given by Wil George and included his poem “Ravens take on Colonization”.

Dr. David C. Thomas, Professor of International Management of the Faculty of Business Administration at Simon Fraser University, was the keynote speaker. A naturalized New Zealander, Dr. David C. Thomas received his PhD in Organizational Behaviour and International Business from the University of South Carolina. His research into the interaction of individuals from different cultures in organizational settings has led to research studies in more than a dozen countries, and he is currently directing an international research team in the development of a measure of 'Cultural Intelligence'. 

The AGM included farewells to a number of Board Members – Nicolas Lozovsky who served on the Board for six years and was AMSSA’s Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee, John Dumesnil, who served on AMSSA’s Board for three years, Farimah Shakeri, who was a Board Member for two-year term, Laurie Baggio, who served on the Board for two years and Hilde Schlosar who was a Board Member for one year. New Board members were elected and welcomed to the AMSSA family including Shawn Bellamy, Gary Snider, Carol Wutzke, Devinder Chattha, Jill Atkey and Mary Kean. Board Members who will serve another term are: Farah Kotadia, James Gill, Lakhvinder Jhaj, Terre Flower, Mason Loh, Emese Szucs and Elyssa Lockhart. The elected President of the AMSSA Board is Emese Szucs, who has served on the AMSSA Board for five years and who served as President in 2006.
                                          
Mohinder Grewal was presented with this year’s Raisat Ali Khan Diversity Award. He serves as a member on the Richmond Seniors’ Advisory Committee, and a member of the Vancouver Cross-Cultural Seniors’ Network Society. His nomination for the Diversity Award by the Vancouver Cross-Cultural Seniors’ Network Society reflects Mohinder’s abiding dedication to immigrant, minorities, and seniors’ issues, his involvement with which spans from his days as vice-chair of the B.C. Seniors Advisory Council and the steering committee member for the United Nations’ International Year of the Older Person on the Canada Co-ordinating Committee, to a recent term on the Premier’s Council on Aging and Seniors’ Issues. Both through his work, but most especially through his numerous volunteer activities, Mohinder has dedicated his life in Canada to the well-being of immigrants and to a just society in which all are welcome.

The winner of the 2007 Service Recognition Award was Sahron Pannu, who is a settlement counselor with IMSS, Prince George and is the only settlement counselor for the whole north. Sharon is very dedicated to the cause of working for immigrants and refugees to make a difference in their lives for smooth settlement. Congratulations!

AMSSA Staff Changes

Welcome, Gary and Ana Maria!

Gary Lau is the new Safe Harbour Program Assistant. He is assisting with the coordination of both the Safe Harbour program and the Safe Harbour Youth Ambassador Diversity program. Gary has a background in Social Sciences and has worked for South Vancouver Neighbourhood House and the Vancouver School Board. He will be working closely with Lindsay Marsh on building Safe Harbour in our 21 communities, assist with the implementation of Youth Ambassador in our 10 communities, and other tasks.
 

Ana Maria Bustamante is AMSSA’s new Multicultural Health Coordinator. She is replacing Dora Replanski, who had been working on the Promoting Healthy Living In BC’s Multicultural Communities Project. Ana Maria has a strong understanding of the social determinants of health and other social economic issues. Her self-funded MA thesis was conducted in and focused on women living with HIV/AIDS in Colombia. Ana Maria will be working on Multicultural health activities.

Welcome Back, Vivianne!

AMSSA welcomes back Vivianne de Pass, who was working as the Multicultural Health Fair Coordinator in 2007. Vivanne also worked hard to organize our 30th Anniversary Gala. She has extensive campaign management experience with promotional, print and online; and has planned, organized and executed events at multiple levels, from promotions to business seminars to tradeshows, as well as managed volunteers and volunteer programs for local events. AMSSA is very glad to have Vivianne back!

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