Understanding our multiculturalism in Quinte

By Mark Tarnovetsky

Although the majority of cultural problems never reach the magnitude of the Shafia killings, Quinte United Immigrant Services has strived to avoid such catastrophes.

There are always potential conflicts and misunderstandings among different cultures, says Orlando Ferro, executive director of Quinte United Immigrant Services.

QUIS strives to ease the transition of a new immigrant in the region. Ferro mentioned the importance of the host program, in which a new immigrant would be put in contact with a student or professional volunteer.

The host program was developed over 25 years ago to promote communication between new immigrants and local Canadians. Last spring the program was discontinued.

“We are trying now to recreate that program. We are trying fundraising for that, to get back the volunteering force that we used to have last year.”

Recently Ferro did a presentation at Loyalist College about the loss of the program.

“We are trying to get students to recreate that program. It’s going to be on a volunteer base.”

QUIS receives no funding from the government. The service relies solely on donations from the community.

Director of Student Success Catherine O’Rourke has been working with international students since the mid 90s, and formally with the international student services at Loyalist College six years ago.
International Student Services offers a range of resources based on the personal needs of individual students.

“Because it’s student driven, we don’t try to fit a square peg into a round hole, we really want to seek out what each individual requires and provide it for them.”

International issues can include language barriers, banking, housing as well as other cultural and social gaps.

O’Rourke said that she does not fully understand the circumstances of the Shafia killings, but she does “know that domestic violence for women in some cultures is more prevalent than in other cultures.”

O’Rourke said the problem does not lie squarely with a lack of resources, but a problem with societal influences in general.

“I think that access to services is always an issue, and if you look at some of the research that’s done on partner abuse it’s not that there aren’t resources, it’s that women for a host of reasons don’t access the resources.”

O’Rourke said that proper education for young girls and women is the answer.

“It’s not just about resources, it’s really about society and how we raise our children.”

O’Rourke is not familiar with the host program that was discontinued last year, but she is feels that student volunteers recreating the host program is a great idea.

“Anytime the community can come together to support diversity I think that’s a good thing to do.”

Canadians nationwide are still reacting to the verdict of the Shafia trial, in which a couple, Mohammad Shafia and Tooba Mohammad Yahya, as well as their son Hamed, were found guilty of the first-degree murder of four of their family members.  Shafia sisters Zainab, 19, Sahar Shafia, 17, and Geeti Shafia, 13, as well as Mohammad’s first wife Rona Amir Mohammed, were found deceased inside a submerged car in Kingston Mills lock of the Rideau Canal.

Ontario currently has a population of approximately 3.4 million immigrants, with 7,880 settled in Belleville and 3,160 in the region of Quinte West.