Immigration Beyond MTV
The North Bay Experience

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
--Margaret Mead

"Never depend upon institutions or government to solve any problem. All social movements are founded by, motivated by and seen through by the passion of individuals."
--Margaret Mead

Margaret Mead died in 1978 but if she were alive today she would look at the North Bay, Ontario experience with immigration initiatives since 2006 and say, "Yeah, that fits what I said years ago."

Immigration initiatives in North Bay began in a meeting room at North Bay City Hall in 2005 with seven people around the table. None were politicians but then Mayor Vic Fedeli and City Council had looked at the city's demographics, heard from industry leaders that they were having difficulties finding skilled labour, and handed the problem to the economic development department to do something about it.

Seven people responded to an invitation from Economic Development Officer Marla Tremblay to attend a meeting about immigration. They were Don Curry, Executive Director of Young People's Press, a national anti-racism and media nonprofit organization; LeeAnne Maillé, a manager with Yes! Employment Services; Karen Strang, head of the international student office at Nipissing University; Jane Jackson, Executive Director of the North Bay Literacy Council; Melanie McVeety, an English as a Second Language teacher with the Near North District School Board; Kevin Smith, representing the Nipissing Rotary Club and Mark Vincent of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines. They ended up calling themselves the North Bay Newcomer Network (NNN.)

Six years later they are all still active and playing leading roles in helping North Bay become an immigration model for smaller cities (current population is 54,000.) What follows is a chronological account of developments since that first meeting, with the hope that by documenting what North Bay did other communities can learn from its experience. Names are included if readers wish to follow up with specific people.

2005

The NNN group members met a few times and quickly decided that because none of them were recent immigrants they had to hear from those who were before deciding on a strategic direction.

2006

The first recorded minutes of a North Bay Newcomer Network were July 26, 2006, with only Don Curry and Marla Tremblay attending.

An immigration symposium was organized, with Canadore College providing free space for a full-day Saturday event in the spring of 2006 that attracted approximately 80 immigrants and other interested parties. Myrta Rivera, then Executive Director of the Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Centre, was the lunch speaker. Organizers led round table discussions all day, which participants attended in rotation.

The number one recommendation coming from the symposium was that before North Bay embarked on an immigrant attraction program it should create support services for newcomers. The city had a settlement agency with one part-time settlement worker in the 1980s and early 1990s, North Bay Immigrant Support Services, but it disbanded in the mid-1990s. It was time to resurrect a similar operation, with more staff and more community support.

2007

The second recorded minutes of a North Bay Newcomer Network meeting are dated January 10, 2007. Attending were Marla Tremblay, Don Curry, Amanda Levesque, Jane Jackson, Bill White, Mark Vincent, Caroline Loiselle, Stacie Priebe-Fiddler, Karen Jones, Kevin Smith, Sue Adams, Ann Welsh and Sarah Campbell.

Young People's Press hired an intern, Ann Welsh, through FedNor, a Northern Ontario economic development agency under Industry Canada. She worked the entire year, starting January 1, researching and writing two reports, The Experience of Immigrating to North Bay, and Immigration Plan for the City of North Bay, Ontario, which she co-wrote with Catharina Nordbeck, who was filling in for Marla Tremblay while she was on maternity leave. Both documents are on the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre's website at www.nbdmc.ca The Immigration Plan was approved by North Bay City Council in early 2008.

The Immigration Plan, dated October 2007, noted the following NNN accomplishments:

" Development and implementation of a year-long research project to analyse the current immigration demographics and identify needs in North Bay
" Proposals submitted for the delivery of settlement programming in North Bay through Young People's Press
" Establishment of an adult English as a Second Language program in North Bay through the Near North District School Board
" Effective media engagement, resulting in several very positive portrayals of local immigrants and immigration in local media
" Hiring of a Diversity Outreach Coordinator at Young People's Press (Oweeny De Silva, an international student graduate of Nipissing University from Sri Lanka) through the Community Builders program of the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration
" Building community networks and engaging established immigrant, cultural, ethnic and religious organizations
" Engaging the multicultural community through an expanded Canada Day celebration at the North Bay waterfront
" Honouring the achievements of immigrant women
" Familiarization tours with business immigrants from Toronto

NNN members at the time the plan was submitted in October 2007 were: Canadore College, City of North Bay, District of Nipissing Social Services Administration Board, Local Training and Adjustment Board (later renamed Labour Market Group), Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration, Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, Near North District School Board, Nipissing University, North Bay Literacy Council, Rotary Club of Nipissing, Salvation Army, The Business Centre Nipissing-Parry Sound, The North Bay & District Chamber of Commerce, Volunteer Centre of Blue Sky Region, Yes! Employment Services and Young People's Press (later the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre.)

Marla Tremblay had been developing a relationship with Citizenship and Immigration Canada staff in Toronto, and a team led by Cliff Fast of CIC visited North Bay a couple of times to assess progress and determine if the city was ready to offer immigrant settlement services. NNN agreed that the proponent should be Young People's Press, which Don Curry said would rebrand itself as the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre. The first public mention of the initiative was in a North Bay Nugget article in August of 2007, headlined Group proposes to set up multicultural centre.

A second article, in December of 2007, interviewed a newcomer who said the city needs settlement services to ease the transition for newcomers. That article noted that 3,210 immigrants in the city comprised 6% of the city's population. That reflected an increase of approximately 18% from the 2001 census, when 2,720 immigrants called North Bay home.

The articles resulted in an anonymous "Vent" in The Nugget at the end of the year: "So some worthy types believe if North Bay only had a special bureau to serve the needs of immigrants they would come flooding in. This must be a joke. Believe me, immigrants will come, bureau or not, if there are decent jobs to be had…which there aren't. Although come to think of it, it would create jobs for the born-in Canada government employees who would run the place."

2008

The following letter to the editor appeared in The Nugget in early January, 2008, written by Don Curry:

"The anonymous Vent writer in the Dec. 26 Nugget managed to get quite a few factual errors in his one-paragraph rant about the possibility of a multicultural centre opening in North Bay.

"As one of the many involved in the process, let me correct the record. The writer said we expect immigrants to come flooding in if we set up a special bureau to serve them. The evidence shows we won't get a flood, but a steady stream. This is occurring even before the city launches its immigration strategy.

"The writer says immigrants will come, bureau or not, if there are decent jobs to be had…which there aren't. Wrong again. One present shortage is for mining engineers, a decent job for sure, but it is difficult to recruit when settlement support services do not exist for the employee and family. "Then the writer goes on to say it would create jobs for the born-in Canada government employees who would run the bureau. Two more errors. Government employees will not run it and the employees will not all be born in Canada.

"We hope to have good news to announce soon. Meanwhile, we will be vigilant in correcting the record when poorly informed people decide to place their opinions on the public record."

Curry and Mayor Fedeli had a discussion about responding to public criticism and agreed to respond quickly and vigorously. They both did just that in reaction to ill-informed subsequent online comments.

The North Bay & District Multicultural Centre opened officially February 22, 2008, in the downtown offices of Young People's Press. It had been operating unofficially since January 1 with three staff members: Curry as executive director, Welsh as program coordinator and Tara Gillies, a long-time Young People's Press employee, as part-time office manager and bookkeeper. Oweeny De Silva continued on a short-term Community Builders contract, funded by the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration.

A large exterior sign branded the location with a new logo, developed by TWG Communications. The Mayor and Young People's Press board chair, Susan Church, cut a cake and distributed pieces to the overflow crowd. Citizenship and Immigration Canada Communications Officer Lonnie Kates announced funding of $194,000 for the first year of operation. Settlement Officer Shawn Gingras, from the Sudbury CIC office, also attended. A meeting with CIC prior to the official opening secured an additional $100,000 in funding to hire two full-time staff persons, buy computers and do some additional marketing. CIC also extended its annual funding commitment to March 31, 2010.

In February the board of directors of Young People's Press, Susan Church, Gary Gould and Joanne Bénard, added three newcomers to the board, Ainul Ahmed, Deirdre Pinto and Felicitas Rodriguez. Deirdre Pinto resigned a few months later to take on a staff position as settlement counsellor, and Felicitas Rodriguez resigned a year later when she relocated to Temiskaming Shores.

A front page Nugget lead article April 3 was headlined North Bay's changing face and referred to Statistics Canada 2006 census data that said the largest visible minority in the city was now black, at 350 people, or 0.7% of the population. Next was South Asian at 0.5% and Chinese, also at 0.5%. It was indicative of interest by the North Bay media about immigration trends, with regular radio, TV and newspaper articles becoming the norm. The lead editorial in The Nugget of the same day was titled Brave new world and concluded "So, although it may be slow, the face of North Bay is indeed changing."

Oweeny De Silva came on full-time staff, funded through CIC, April 1 as the Volunteer and Event Facilitator for the Host Program. Like Ann Welsh, she is a graduate of the women's studies program at Nipissing University. She resigned that position in June of 2009 to relocate to Ottawa and was replaced by Vindra Sahadeo, a newcomer from Trinidad & Tobago who has an MA degree in psychology and years of teaching experience.

Deirdre Pinto, a newcomer from the U.S., joined the staff as a settlement counsellor in April and left in August to relocate to Ottawa. She was replaced in that role by Taslima Ahmed, a newcomer from Bangladesh who speaks English, Bengali, Urdu and Hindi and can read and write Arabic. She has an MA degree in sociology from the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh and graduated from the Social Service Worker program at Canadore College.

A number of events, organized by the North Bay Newcomer Network and the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre, occurred in 2008, including a multicultural fashion show, the international food festival at Nipissing University, International Women's Week celebrations at Nipissing University with a theme highlighting immigrant women that Ann Welsh and Oweeny De Silva helped organize, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, where Young People's Press board member Gary Gould was inducted to the Nipissing Human Rights Hall of Fame, an immigration breakfast for employers, a multicultural showcase as part of the Canada Day celebrations at the waterfront, an international soccer game as part of Canada Day and more.

The local Union Gas office approached the multicultural centre and said it had a program called Helping Hands, in which it donates up to $1,500 in materials plus sweat equity. A Saturday painting and refurbishing event changed the colours from the Tory blue when it was a constituency office for MPP and Ontario Premier Mike Harris to a more soothing yellow. Union Gas volunteers erected a bookcase and a long shelf for computers donated by TeleTech for client use. Ann Welsh chose the yellow paint.

NNN had established a committee system by this time, with Curry and Marla Tremblay as co-chairs and members of the executive committee, along with Ann Welsh as chair of the settlement committee, LeeAnne Maillé of Yes! Employment Services as chair of the employment committee, Darlene Jamieson of Big Brothers Big Sisters as chair of the welcoming community committee and Karen Strang of Nipissing University as chair of the attraction committee. When Marla Tremblay returned from maternity leave she asked the executive to disband the attraction committee, as it came under her job description as a city economic development officer. Karen Strang continues to serve on the executive committee as a member-at-large.

In June of 2008 Curry wrote his first quarterly newsletter from the multicultural centre and sent it by email to approximately 150 people. It now has an email list of more than 300 and keeps supporters and opinion leaders abreast of developments. It also helps shape public opinion as favourable toward immigration.

Also in June Curry told the Young People's Press board that he would like a discussion at the next meeting on the future of Young People's Press. He had completed a two-year project with five Canadian university journalism schools to increase the diversity of their students, and thereafter the Canadian mainstream media. The only work he was continuing with YPP was maintenance of its website and sending columns to The Toronto Star Syndicate and Scripps Howard News Service in the U.S. He said it was time to wind it down. The board later agreed to incorporate as the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre, with the legal work completed and incorporation granted July 14, 2009. December 18, 2009, the centre received charitable status from Revenue Canada.

July 14, 2008 MPP Monique Smith announced $270,000 in funding to the City of North Bay to create an immigration portal (www.northbayimmigration.ca) The site, maintained and updated by staff at the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre, continues to generate large traffic volumes. Statistics from 2011 show it receives more than 200,000 hits per month, with more than 6,000 unique visitors per month.

During the summer Curry applied for funding through CIC for a Local Immigration Partnership project, which would formalize what the city was already doing with the North Bay Newcomer Network and pay for a staff person. Funding was approved and Vindra Sahadeo took the position. However CIC put funding on hold after only a month of her being in the position.

Marla Tremblay and Curry met with Kelly Brown, Superintendent of Schools and Program for the Near North District School Board, along with ESL teacher Melanie McVeety, and he agreed to offer the first night school credit course for English as a Second Language.

The multicultural centre teamed with the international student office at Canadore College and held a picnic at the North Bay waterfront, attended by approximately 120 people, many of them students from China attending classes in Canadore's aviation programs.

The regular October 8 English Conversation Circle, normally run at the North Bay Public Library or at the multicultural centre, was hosted by Bell. Bell staff had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for clients and volunteers. Super multicultural centre volunteer Julie Grant organized the event with her regional manager Allen Russell and his wife Val.

Curry responded to a Nugget letter to the editor writer October 29 with a letter headlined Don't believe the new immigrant stereotypes. By this time he was writing a series of articles for The Nugget on recent immigrants in the city.

His letter read: Letter writer Pierre Legault raised the issue of immigration policy in his Thanksgiving Day letter to the editor. The irony of his letter being published the same day as the Mayor's Message on the successes of business immigration in North Bay landed in my email inbox was evident.

"Immigration should not be about money, cheap labour and remaining competitive in the global market. It should be about values," he wrote. The word "values" appears to be code for people who look like me, talk like me and think like me.

"I don't like those who blindly follow a religion that tells them to kill or permits stoning of females," he wrote. No argument there. I am sure none of us do. But then he goes on to try to scare readers by implying people like that may be coming to North Bay.

Mr. Legault blasts the Liberal party because he says its immigration policy is "out of touch with today's reality." The fact is that the Liberals and Conservatives are pretty close on immigration policy and all political parties recognize we have to maintain or increase immigration levels to survive as an economy.

Mr. Legault is upset and isolated. He believes stereotypical portrayals of people who are different from him.

I invite him to get to know the people who are coming to North Bay from other countries. In the short existence of the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre we have served clients from 22 different countries.

Get out and meet North Bay's newest citizens and the stereotypes will quickly evaporate. You will find our commonalities are much stronger than our differences.

That same week marked the official opening of a mosque in North Bay, creating a place for prayers for the approximately 40 members of the Muslim community in the city.

Toward the end of the year a volunteer appreciation evening was held at the North Bay Public Library, a pumpkin carving night for newcomers, a children's Christmas party in partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters, an afternoon of sliding and a film night.

2009

A full day retreat at Mexicali Rosa's February 10 for North Bay & District Multicultural Centre's staff, board members and volunteers, facilitated by Wayne LeBelle, identified 15 priorities for the next few years, resulting in a strategic plan document. That document, written by Don Curry with input from Ann Welsh and board member Gary Gould, was titled 1,000 Days Ahead and was published in April.

In March West Ferris Secondary School teacher John Hetherington was named to the Nipissing District Human Rights Hall of Fame at the 21st annual Evening of Applause event.

In April Settlement Counsellor Taslima Ahmed began teaching citizenship classes to prepare permanent residents for their next step, becoming Canadian citizens.

Ontario Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Michael Chan was in North Bay May 22 to discuss a new immigration demonstration project involving North Bay, Brockville and Chatham-Kent, sponsored by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The project was titled Community Immigration Retention in Rural Ontario (CIRRO.) The North Bay Newcomer Network helped coordinate the project with Caroline Loiselle of the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration, Chetna Sharma of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines and Marla Tremblay of the Mayor's Office of Economic Development as the project leads. The project helped influence provincial government policy on how to attract and retain immigrants in Ontario's smaller centres.

André Dukhia, an immigrant from Guyana, was later hired on a six-month contract to work on the project and was based in the multicultural centre.

The first full year of operation to March 31, 2009 saw 67 eligible clients (permanent residents of Canada, live-in caregivers or refugees) served at the multicultural centre and they made 532 office visits. Assistance was also provided to about 100 ineligible clients (temporary foreign workers, international students, or immigrants who have become Canadian citizens.)

Oweeny De Silva's last day on the job was June 9, before she left for Ottawa. She and Program Coordinator Ann Welsh took the centre from no volunteers to 28, and from no Host matches to 25 over 12 months. Vindra Sahadeo replaced Oweeny De Silva, whose position received more than 200 applications for employment.

Ann Welsh was recognized in June with a Newcomer Champion Award from the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration. It was one of only 10 such awards in Ontario and she attended a ceremony June 27 at Ontario Heritage Centre in Toronto, marking national Multiculturalism Day.

By this time the multicultural centre had expanded from its 1,600 square feet of space on the main floor to add another 1,250 square feet of space on the second floor. Board Chair Susan Church spoke with Nipissing East Community Opportunities Executive Director Pat Aspin and secured a large board table and chairs for the meeting space on the second floor.

A relationship with ALLIES, a project of the Maytree Foundation, began June 11-12 when Marla Tremblay, Don Curry, Ann Welsh and Andrea Stoppa, Acting Executive Director of the Labour Market Group, attended a conference in Vancouver. The goal of the conference was to provide municipalities with the tools to operate an immigrant employers' council. The seeds of the NNN Employers' Council were sewn.

Ann Welsh married Ryan Barnhart of North Bay August 1 and took an eight-month leave of absence September 1 to complete her Master's degree at the University of Toronto. Husband Ryan was working on his Ph.D. at York University. Deborah Robertson, a multicultural centre volunteer and recent immigrant from England, assumed the program coordinator position. She had been working half-time at the centre as a volunteer. She has a B.A. Honours degree in English literature from Southampton University.

A second Community Builders project grant was received and was used to establish an anti-racism lending library at the multicultural centre. Each of the city's four school boards had a representative on the committee choosing the resources that were catalogued by Emily Jusic, a student intern from Canadore College's Social Service Worker program. The resources, in both official languages, are catalogued by grade level and are described on the centre's website at www.nbdmc.ca

July 30 Mayor Vic Fedeli wrote a letter to the editor of The Nugget in response to a negative letter on immigration. It read:

I was very disappointed to read the negative comments in Margo Walton's letter "Another view on immigration." And I take offence at the term 'social engineering.'

Opening the doors of this city to immigrants is not a new concept. North Bay was built by people who came to this country in search of a better life. And we have always welcomed new people and done whatever we can as a community to help them achieve their goals.

Dependence on the social network is not a racial issue, but an economic issue. Perpetuating the myth that people leave their homes, their families, and everything familiar to them to come here and overwhelm our social agencies, medical facilities and police forces is not only contemptible, it is wrong.

Our population is not growing at a sustainable rate. As retirees outpace graduates, North Bay needs new people to settle here to fill the jobs our existing population cannot. Facilities like our multicultural centre help newcomers settle in their chosen home and reinforce the welcoming spirit of the community.

It is regrettable that Ms. Walton's experience with immigrants in Toronto was less than positive, but that negative stereotype cannot be accepted as fact.

Her comments were not only politically incorrect; they were insulting and hurtful to our new citizens and to all who work so hard to diversify our community.

The mayor's letter was followed shortly by one from Eva Wardlaw, a real estate agent in the city and a former member of city council. It read:
I, like Mayor Fedeli, was offended by comments made by Margo Walton regarding immigration.

I was offended because I am an immigrant! My family arrived from Greece in the early 1930s. North Bay was chosen because other relatives had immigrated here a few years earlier.

You may recognize some of their names: The Loukidelis family, the Maroosis clan, the Salidas group and numerous other fellow countrymen.

None of us became a social/economic burden to the community. We worked hard, blended in and made valuable contributions to our new home. Many of our children have, and still, play important roles in our city.

These same comments can be made for numerous Italian, German, French and Jewish families who chose to come here.

Immigration has flourished in North Bay for close to a century. It was here when Margo Walton was growing up. Perhaps that's what made North Bay so memorable to her.

Hopefully our fine city will continue to welcome newcomers who bring a wealth of tradition, diversity and enrichment to our social fabric.

North Bay is a better city because of its open door policy. Let's not slam it shut.

Laura-Jane Coté (L-J) came on staff September 1 as the North Bay Newcomer Network Coordinator, based at the multicultural centre. She brought 20 years of experience as a senior manager with the Ontario Public Service and a background in human resources and nursing. Funding for the position and associated activities is under a separate contribution agreement with Citizenship and Immigration Canada's Local Immigration Partnership program.

With Taslima Ahmed of the multicultural centre handling most of the registrations, enrolment at the ESL class rose dramatically to more than 30 daytime and 21 at night. In the summer of 2008 she registered six students and in the summer of 2009 she registered more than 20.

North Bay launched its immigration web portal at www.northbayimmigration.ca in December through a news release from Marla Tremblay, and had an official launch January 11.

The North Bay & District Multicultural Centre received charitable status from Revenue Canada in December.

2010

The launch of the North Bay immigration portal was held January 11 at the Best Western and was followed by a strategic planning session for the North Bay Newcomer Network. The launch included a talk by Dr. Lionel Laroche on immigrant employment issues. Mayor Vic Fedeli, MPP Monique Smith and MP Anthony Rota all attended and spoke passionately about the need for immigration. Marla Tremblay and Chelsa Mayhew of the Mayor's Office of Economic Development were the drivers of the immigration portal initiative.

January 4 saw two Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation interns start a 12-month placement at the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre, and one Ontario Public Service intern begin a six-month placement. Cindy Collins and Aaron Fallon are both bilingual graduates of St. Joseph-Scollard Hall and Nipissing University, while André Dukhia came to Canada from Guyana in 2008. Cindy Collins began work as a settlement counsellor, Aaron Fallon began community outreach work and André Dukhia began work on the Community Immigration Retention in Rural Ontario (CIRRO) project involving North Bay, Brockville and Chatham-Ken.

Dennis Mong, well-known North Bay realtor and businessman, joined the board of the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre. At his first meeting he offered to organize the organization's first golf tournament.

Don Curry began hosting a series of radio programs on immigration on North Bay Radio in February and Mayor Vic Fedeli was one of his first guests. The program series is available as podcasts on the North Bay immigration portal at www.northbayimmigration.ca under Features. Mayor Fedeli posted daily photos of his activities on the mayor's corner of the city's website and the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre and North Bay Newcomer Network were featured often.

A story by Ian Ross in the March issue of Northern Ontario Business featured the North Bay Newcomer Network's business immigration matchmaking program, a partnership with the City of North Bay, City of Sudbury, Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade. The program matches business for sale with prospective buyers. The article also profiled the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre.

Toronto Sun columnist Joe Warmington, a graduate of the journalism program at Canadore College, profiled the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre March 11, including a photo of settlement counsellor Taslima Ahmed. The story appeared on Page 3 of The Sun, with the first two pages featuring South Asian immigration to Toronto. The North Bay Nugget, a member of the Sun chain, published the article on Page 3 as well.

The 22nd annual Evening of Applause March 24 at Ecole secondaire publique Odyssée saw Sandy Foster inducted to the Nipissing District Human Rights Hall of Fame. The event is part of the annual International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination program spearheaded by the multicultural centre that involves all four school boards, Canadore College and Nipissing University.

Ann Welsh returned from sabbatical May 3 to resume her role as program coordinator. Deborah Robertson did a superb job filling in for Ann for eight months.

Maryline Pillet, a newcomer from France, joined the staff of the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre May 10 as francophone outreach coordinator for the centre and the North Bay Newcomer Network. She had a one-year contract funded by FedNor, later extended for a second year. Jessica Boissonneault assisted her through a 12-month FedNor internship.

Vindra Sahadeo of the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre responded to client demand and created an international cooking club. Funding from the New Horizons for Seniors program at Service Canada was secured and monthly weekend events followed, initially at Les Compagnons des Francs-Loisirs and then at the Golden Age Club kitchen when numbers became too large for the first location.

L-J Coté, the North Bay Newcomer Network Coordinator, was tasked with the job of establishing an immigrant employers' council and her first step was to visit those already operating in Toronto and Waterloo. She also consulted with staff at the one in London-Middlesex. NNN held an employers' breakfast in April, hosted by the North Bay & District Chamber of Commerce, and lined up employer volunteers to steer the council. The focus of the council is to make it easier for employers to find and employ foreign-trained professionals and skilled workers.

May 6-7 saw Don Curry, L-J Coté and LeeAnne Maillé, chair of NNN's employment committee, attend the ALLIES conference in Halifax. Funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada and organized by the Maytree and McConnell Foundations, the event highlighted employers' councils from across Canada and featured the Connector Program being run in Halifax. The three brought information on that program back to North Bay and promptly established a similar program to connect professional and skilled newcomers with someone in their field of work.

In Halifax the three were treated to a viewing of Finding Talent: Techniques for Recruiting and Selecting Skilled Immigrants. Produced by the Toronto Region Immigrant Employers Council (TRIEC), it is professionally written and produced and features professional actors. It's a must-see for anyone involved in hiring and it's available on TRIEC's website at www.triec.ca

May was a busy month and included a Diversity Day program May 26 at Clarion Pinewood Park. Titled Creating an Inclusive Workplace, it featured Noelle Richardson, Chief Diversity Officer of Ontario, and Trevor Wilson, diversity strategist and author as keynote speakers. It was a City of North Bay and North Bay Newcomer Network event.

Don Curry attended his first meeting as a member of the Governing Council of the province-wide Welcoming Communities Initiative in Hamilton in June. He had attended a previous meeting in London. The project involves university researchers and settlement agency leaders from across Ontario, excluding the Greater Toronto Area. The WCI developed a 17-point document identifying the characteristics of a welcoming community. It is available at www.welcomingcommunities.ca John Nadeau, a professor at Nipissing University and now the chair of the North Bay Newcomer Networks' welcoming committee, is North Bay's university representative on the governing council.

The first golf tournament and multicultural buffet for the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre was held June 27 at Osprey Links and Partners Billiards and Bowling. Board member Dennis Mong was the main organizer with Don Curry and he and his staff at Partners served a sumptuous international buffet that had golfers talking for months after.

The first English as a Second Language summer school ran in the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre's boardroom all summer. Dedicated volunteers ran the program while the regular day program by the Near North District School Board took its summer break.

Intern Aaron Fallon developed a Facebook presence for the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre, which quickly had 108 friends and 89 people in its group.

In July Ann Welsh, Marla Tremblay and Karen Strang represented the North Bay Newcomer Network at Queen's Park to receive a Newcomer Champion Award from the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration. They also got to meet the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh.

After consultations L-J Coté completed the North Bay Newcomer Network strategic plan and developed terms of reference for its committees: executive, settlement, welcoming community and employers' council. She also developed an implementation plan.

Joe Daniel of TeleTech became the first chair of the Employers' Council, whose first members were: Kristen Vaughan of North Bay General Hospital; Rafael Albino of the Ministry of Transportation; Sorel Harrison of Atlas Copco; Sherry Barber of North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit; Jodee Brown Yeo of Ontario Northland; Roger Perry of Fabrene; Patti Robichaud of Stantec; Patti Carr of the North Bay & District Chamber of Commerce; Andrea Stoppa of the Labour Market Group; LeeAnne Maillé of Yes! Employment Services and Marla Tremblay of the City of North Bay.

Deborah Robertson returned as program coordinator in early September as Ann Welsh left once again, this time on maternity leave. A year later Ann decided to stay in Toronto and work toward becoming an immigration consultant, so Deborah continues as program coordinator.

Don Curry attended a Welcoming Communities Initiative meeting in Gatineau in September, followed by a joint meeting of WCI and the Local Immigration Partnerships in Ottawa in October. At that meeting WCI leads Vicki Esses and Meyer Burstein had breakfast with Curry and colleagues from Timmins and Sault Ste. Marie, and that meeting set the stage for an immigration conference to be held in North Bay February 28 through March 2, 2011.

The North Bay launch of Professions North was held September 23. The project is led by Laurentian University in Sudbury and helps internationally-trained professionals become accredited and access jobs in their fields. The entry point to the program in North Bay is the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre.

It was municipal election time in October and two candidates visited the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre to learn more about its activities. Both Al McDonald and Judy Koziol spoke about the importance of immigration to the city in their campaign materials and both were elected October 25-Al McDonald as mayor and Judy Koziol as a councillor.

Staff at the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre were thrilled to learn the North Bay & District Chamber of Commerce named the centre as Not-for-Profit of the Year. Program Coordinator Deborah Robertson accepted the award at the dinner at the Best Western from Chamber President John Strang and award sponsor Maureen Brazeau, manager of Rebuilt Resources.

Don Curry was invited by Northern Ontario Business to write a column on immigration in Northern Ontario and it appeared in the December issue.

2011

L-J Coté began teaching the Workplace Communication in Canada course for newcomers in the boardroom at the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre.

Vindra Sahadeo organized two skating events and one skiing adventure for newcomers over the winter. It was amazing to see the skating progress from one event to the next.

Andrew Hazelwood was inducted to the Nipissing District Human Rights Hall of Fame March 23 at Nipissing University.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada, FedNor, the Ontario government, the Welcoming Communities Initiative, The Conference Board of Canada, the City of North Bay, the North Bay Newcomers Network, the Canadian Youth Business Foundation and the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre joined forces to fund and organize a three-day conference at the Best Western February 28 through March 2. The first day was organized by The Conference Board of Canada and City of North Bay, while the second two days were organized by WCI and the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre. Several strategies were developed at the conference to help rural and northern communities attract and retain newcomers.

Three new interns joined the staff at the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre in May. Shaye Belanger and Meg Ramore were funded by the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation and Johnathan Thackray was funded by FedNor. All three signed on for 12 months.

The North Bay & District Multicultural Centre opened a Timmins office in May, branding it the Timmins & District Multicultural Centre. Don Curry, Deborah Robertson and Cathy Ellis of the Timmins Economic Development Corporation interviewed a short list of six candidates from the 40 applicants and hired Andrée Fortin, a bilingual graduate of the social service worker program at Collège Boréal in Timmins. The office is situated on the second floor of the Timmins Economic Development Corporation offices at 12 Elm Street North. Cathy Ellis later joined the board of directors of the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre. Timmins Mayor Tom Laughren cut the cake at the official opening June 7.

Susan Church, board chair of the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre, and Don Curry signed a new contribution agreement with Citizenship and Immigration Canada effective April 1 and running through March 31, 2013. The agreement did away with the former Immigrant Settlement and Adaptation Program (ISAP) and the Host program, combining them into one contract of $302,000.

The Local Immigration Partnership contribution agreement for the North Bay Newcomer Network was extended to March 31, 2012 for $128,000 by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

L-J Coté represented North Bay at the Metropolis conference in Vancouver March 23-26 and teamed up with Sorel Harrison of the North Bay Newcomer Network Employers' Council to attend the ALLIES conference in Calgary May 5-6. They returned with a mentorship program that Sorel Harrison's company, Atlas Copco, will pilot in North Bay.

A successful Employers' Breakfast was organized by the North Bay Newcomer Network and Labour Market Group March 29 at the Clarion Pinewood. Naomi Alboim of Queen's University spoke on immigration statistics and trends and Fiona Murray of the Alliance of Sector Councils discussed the development of tools and resources to assist employers in hiring, retaining and engaging internationally trained individuals. More than 50 local employers, funders and service organizations attended. Mayor Al McDonald spoke on the topic as well.

Settlement counsellor Taslima Ahmed left on maternity leave April 8 and was replaced by Cindy Collins, a former Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation intern who had spent the past few months trekking through Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.

The second annual North Bay & District Multicultural Centre golf tournament was held June 30 at Osprey Links with a multicultural buffet, silent auction and prizes following at Partners Billiards and Bowling. Sixty-eight golfers participated and the event raised more than $6,000. Vic Fedeli, now a candidate for MPP, joined Don Curry's foursome and new MP Jay Aspin joined the Nipissing University foursome.

The next day the same staff and volunteers from the golf tournament ensured the annual Canada Day Multicultural Showcase event at the North Bay waterfront ran without a hitch.

Marla Tremblay, Don Curry and Cindy Collins met with new MP Jay Aspin and his executive assistant, Scott Mannering August 13. It was a great opportunity to define roles and make sure the City of North Bay, the North Bay Newcomer Network, the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre and the MP's office are working together on immigration and settlement issues.

Belgian journalist Jelle Henneman visited North Bay and interviewed Don Curry and Marla Tremblay about the successes North Bay has enjoyed in regard to immigration. He was researching a series of articles using Canada as a model for Europe and a book highlighting the Canadian immigration experience.

FedNor intern Johnathan Thackray began writing and disseminating weekly Multicultural Minutes, designed to educate recipients and inform them about coming events at the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre and elsewhere in the community.

Working with the City of North Bay's Parks and Recreation Department, the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre organized a cricket demonstration by the Ontario Cricket Association September 17. The gym at Ecole secondaire publique Odyssée has been booked every Monday evening during the winter for the cricket enthusiasts to get their games in order for the 2012 outdoor season.

Deborah Robertson and Don Curry travelled to Sudbury September 26 for two days of celebrations as a Northern Ontario Business Award winner. The North Bay & District Multicultural Centre had been nominated for the award by the North Bay & District Chamber of Commerce. Ten awards from across Northern Ontario were presented in front of more than 500 people at the Caruso Club in Sudbury. A video on the multicultural centre was shown prior to Curry receiving the award from sponsor Cisco Canada. He talked about the importance of immigration to Northern Ontario in his acceptance speech and later discussed the issue with Timmins Mayor Tom Laughren and North Bay Mayor Al McDonald, who were both in attendance. The award received wide coverage province-wide.

Local CTV journalist Carrie Trownson did a piece on Citizenship Week in October and interviewed Don Curry, Mayor Al McDonald and MPP Vic Fedeli. It ran regionally across Northern Ontario and then nationally on Canada AM a couple of days later.

History written by Don Curry, October 2011, based on personal recollection, Young People's Press and North Bay & District Multicultural Centre board of directors' minutes, newsletters and annual reports, newspaper clippings, office files and minutes of North Bay Newcomer Network meetings.