Canada, and even our town we call home, is known for its cultural diversity and acceptance of those that choose to move here and call Canada home. Imagine, coming here and maybe not knowing the language very well, unsure of how to get involved in the community or even how to get your children enrolled into school. That could be very scary and confusing.
Rocky View County has a program that was designed to provide assistance and tools for immigrants to the area. Rocky View Immigrant Services works alongside the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society and for as culturally diverse as we are, this program is severely underused.
Kathleen McMurray, Coordinator with Rocky View Immigrant Services, says “we provide two main services – immigrant services which is if a new family comes to Chestermere, either from Calgary or directly from another country – if they come from Calgary, they still have to have be originally from another country. They would set up a meeting with me and we would do a needs assessment to see what the family’s needs are, provide basic referrals and brokering of services like employment, finding them housing, if they’re in need of food, getting their kids into school, doing an orientation to Canada – any of those broad services. That is sort of the community piece and getting them settled into Chestermere. The second role that I play is I work with the program called SWIS (Settlement Workers In Schools) that is a partnership with Rocky View School Division. If an international student or immigrant comes in, then what I’ll do is meet with the family and the school and I become the social worker that’s in charge of that student. I give them a school orientation, meet with the family to make sure they’re prepared on Canadian school expectations, maybe for the first couple weeks I might even have meetings with the child just to see how they’re doing and sit with them in class if needed. Also to get the student engaged socially and get the parents involved in volunteering.”
McMurray goes on to say that they also provide assistance with the incredible amount of paperwork that can fall on immigrants such as getting their Alberta Health Care set up, application for Permanent Residency (PR) and then also helping with the renewing of that PR card when time. Also, should there be a language barrier, the service will help find an interpreter to assist the family and will also get them enrolled in an appropriate English class.
These services are provided to immigrants for free, with the only stipulation being that they must be permanent residents. If anyone knows someone that could benefit from these services, you can contact Kathleen at (403) 604-2377 or email her at rvimmigrantservices@ccis-calgary.ab.ca
