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Join us for a series of panel presentations that will illu
strate the various important contributions that government-assisted refugee
s\, refugee claimants\, immigrants and other newcomers make to our communit
ies. Students\, faculty members\, employers\, settlement sector representat
ives\, and community members are all welcome to attend!
Date: Thursday\, October 19th<
br />Time: 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Venue: Robson Square\, U
BC – HSBC Room\, 800 Robson St\, Vancouver
Free and open to the public
. We are now Sold Out for this event! To be ad
ded to the wait list\, please send your name and contact details to Lindsay
at lindsay.marsh@ubc.ca or 604-822-1672.
Light dinner offered.
Mod
erated by Saleem Spindari\, Manager of Refugee Settlement Support
Projects\, MOSAIC.
Bio: Saleem manages a variety of i
nitiatives and projects to support the settlement of refugees. This is a on
e year secondment from his Community Outreach and Advocacy Program at MOSAI
C.
Panelists:
Professor Dan Hiebert
 |
<
em>Professor Hiebert will explore the degree of economic integrati
on of refugees over the long haul. He’ll discuss what their economic situat
ion looks like 5\, 10\, and 20 years after arriving in Canada and will poin
t out that the outcomes differ by city -- Vancouver does not appear to offe
r the same level of opportunities as several other cities\, for example.
Bio: Dan Hiebert is a Professor in Geogra
phy at UBC. He has two main research interests. The first is international
migration. At the broadest scale\, this includes the issue of policy and re
gulatory systems and how they shape migration\, and also how people become
mobile\, with or without the consent of states. He tries to understand Cana
dian immigration policy within this wider context\, and consider it in rela
tion to the policies of other countries\, especially in Europe and Australa
sia. At the local scale\, he studies the consequences of immigration in Can
adian cities\, highlighting Vancouver’s situation (with a foreign-born popu
lation approaching one million). More specifically\, he looks at the integr
ation of newcomers in the labour and housing markets of cities\, and how th
is changes their residential structure and social relations.
Patrick MacKenzie
 |
Patrick MacKenzie\, CEO of the I
mmigrant Employment Council of BC will discuss how increasing inte
rnational competition for talent requires that Canada make the most effecti
ve use of the skills immigrants bring to this country. As employers struggl
e with the challenge of finding qualified employees to meet immediate and s
trategic needs\, many are turning to innovative solutions and are tapping i
nto new sources of global talent. Patrick will explore novel approaches all
owing newcomers\, including those who arrived here as refugees\, to get a h
ead start in their careers in Canada and will present an effective alternat
ive to traditional job boards\, which offers employers access to job-ready
talent.
Bio: Patrick MacKenzie joined IEC-BC as
the organization’s new CEO in April 2017. He has made a career of public se
rvice from coast to coast\, working in policy and program areas aimed at su
pporting many of Canada’s most vulnerable communities through economic and
social development as well as international relations. Previously\, Patrick
spent 11 years working for Immigration\, Refugees and Citizenship Canada a
t its national headquarters in Ottawa and its regional offices in Vancouver
. Throughout his career\, Patrick has worked with partners on matters affec
ting aboriginal and immigrant populations\, including immigrant economic in
tegration\, provincial nominee programs\, credential recognition and labour
mobility.
Cormac O'Reilly
 |
<
em>Cormac O'Reilly will share insights from his work mana
ging the Refugee Training and Employment Program with MOSAIC.
Bio: Cormac O'Reilly is a Program Manager with the BC Allian
ce for Manufacturing and currently runs the Refugee Training and Employment
Program--a jointly run program in partnership with MOSAIC--that provides n
ewly arrived Canadians with skills necessary to work in Manufacturing. He h
as worked in the Career and Employment Counselling field for the past 8 yea
rs in various capacities including Case Manager\, Facilitator\, Job Develop
er\, Labour Market Officer and Program Manager and has previously worked wi
th S.U.C.C.E.S.S. and the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters. He is a Cert
ified Career Development Practitioner through the BCCDA and received his CD
P Certification from SFU.
Zhila Pirmoradi
Zhila P
irmoradi\, an analyst with the city of Vancouver\, will profile the mentori
ng program at the City of Vancouver that supports refugees to find jobs.
Bio: Zhila is an Industrial Engineer wh
o moved to Canada in 2009 as international student with her husband. As a s
tudent passionate to develop her professional skills and contribute to the
community in parallel\, she started volunteering with Society for Canadian
Women in Science & Technology (SCWIST) in 2013. Around her graduation time
and newly landed as a Permanent Resident\, in 2014 she started looking for
opportunities to get relevant work experience in Canada\, and she applied t
o Skills Connect program where she met a great mentor and case manager\, an
d learned about other opportunities such as ISS of BC’s 4-month internship
opportunity for newcomers. She also joined a great mentorship program offer
ed by Immigrant Employment Council of BC (IEC-BC)\, through which she met s
everal wonderful professionals from the City of Vancouver. As a result of c
ontribution from organizations missioned to support\, and individuals who w
illingly offered their support to newcomers\, Zhila was offered a Business
Analyst position by the City of Vancouver in 2015\, and since then she has
been contributing to over ten projects which help increasing efficiency and
effectiveness of the processes in various business units.
Vi
ken Majarian
Viken Majarian will share his story as a Syr
ian refugee settling in Vancouver. His story will help illustrate the barri
ers refugees face as professionals entering the Canadian job market.
<
/em>Bio: Viken is a Syrian dentist whose family was forced
from their home in Aleppo before the Syrian civil war. He is a Canadian Re
d Cross volunteer in the Smart Start program. He was born in Aleppo\, Syria
and attended private school in Aleppo till grade twelve then moved in 1987
to Armenia for his medical university study. He graduated as a Dentist D.D
.S. (Doctor of Dental Surgeon) in 1995. He served in the army as a dentist
for two and half years\, then worked in a public dental clinic for two year
s too. Since 1998\, he had his own clinic. At 2003\, he received his Surgeo
n Implant Diploma. He moved with his family to Canada in December 2015 due
to the war in Syria. In 2016\, he received his Canadian first aid certifica
te. In March 2016\, he got his first job in Canada as a care attendant in a
hospital transfers company and a year later\, he made his first dental wor
kshop presentation at MOSAIC for newcomers and refugee families. He receive
d an invitation from the Red Cross to attend a course with them as an Arabi
c speaker presenter. He speaks five languages: Armenian\, Arabic\, English\
, Russian\, and Turkish. Since his arrival to Canada\, he has been voluntee
ring in the Armenian community and a church to help newcomer families to se
ttle and begin new life in Canada.
Farid Rohani
< table width="161">
Farid Rohani\, immediate past Chair with the Lauri
er Institution\, will highlight the important contributions that people who
arrived as immigrants and refugees make to our society.
Bio: Farid Rohani is the immediate past Chair of the Laurier Insti
tution\, a Canadian non-partisan organization dedicated to the disseminatio
n of knowledge about the economic and social implications of diversity. Dur
ing a 12-year tenure on the Laurier board\, Rohani established the Ethics a
nd Human Rights Lecture Series (University of British Columbia) and expande
d the M.K. Wong Lecture Series on multicultural issues (CBC Radio) now in i
ts 11th year. He also established Canada’s first Indigenous spea
ker series at Vancouver Island University. As former Chair of the Institut
e for Canadian Citizenship (Vancouver)\, he organized the first Citizenship
Ceremony on a First Nations Reserve. Rohani has served on the Royal Canadi
an Mountain Police (E-Division) Diversity Advisory Committee\, the Scouts C
anada Diversity Committee and on the Steering Committee of the Vancouver Di
alogues Project. He has been honored with the British Columbia Multicultura
l Award (2011)\, the British Columbia Regiment Commanding Officer’s Commend
ation (2014)\, and has been recognized as a Georgia Straight Cultural Navig
ator (2013). An Iranian-born Canadian\, Rohani publishes widely on immigrat
ion\, multiculturalism\, diversity and ethics\, and is a guest commentator
on these issues on CBC radio and television. He also manages his family’s V
ancouver-based development and real estate holding company.
-----
This is the final event of the After the Flight: Community-University Refugee & Migration Symposium host ed by AMSSA\, MOSAIC\, ISSofBC\, Vancouver Association for Survivors of Tor ture (VAST)\, the Vancouver Immigration Partnership\, UBC Community Engagem ent\, UBC Liu Institute for Global Issues and the School of Public Policy a nd Global Affairs\, UBC International Student Development\, the UBC Graduat e Student Migration Network\, and the UBC Equity and Inclusion Office.
< p>Find more details on symposium events between October 11 – October 19\, 2 017 here.Disclaimer: Please note that by using this service\, your information will be stored on the Eventbrite server\, which is located outside Canada. If you do not wish to use this service\, please email lindsay.marsh@ubc.ca directly to register. Thank you.
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