Videos encourage diversity and understanding in Timmins
A new initiative to illustrate the growing diversity of Timmins includes a series of videos to foster a welcoming and inclusive community.
Two videos were recently released as part of the Timmins Diversity Awareness Project.
“Because community members deserve to feel safe, valued and respected when living in their community, especially when … we know that Timmins requires population growth to keep up with our labour force shortage," said Madison Mizzau of the Timmins Economic Development Corp.
The videos feature local residents sharing stories and experiences, as well as inspiring messages of how everyone can help foster a welcoming and inclusive community for people from all cultural backgrounds.
Noemie Rodrigue is a local entrepreneur who volunteered to take part in the project. She was adopted from Haiti when she was an infant by a local francophone family.
To this day, she is still asked if she's new in town.
“I do enjoy people having a curiosity of like asking me but I am, am kind of stuck to oh well, you know, yeah I’m from here," Rodrigue said.
"You know they have that look and then I have to (say) I’m adopted, you know, and I have to really go into detail and sometimes I’m just in the grocery store.”
The second video features an Indigenous man and there are two more videos to come.
“People tend to connect more on a personal level, when it is shared from an individual," said Mizzau.
"We’ve seen within other communities that have been tackling similar issues that videos tend to do well spreading that message.”
Rodrigue is hoping the videos help people take the emphasis off connecting skin colour with a location.
“The approach less of like, 'oh where are you from?' or, you know, just a little bit more easygoing.”
According to the 2021 census, nearly 15 per cent of the population in Timmins identifies as Indigenous and nearly six per cent of the people living here don't identify English or French as their mother tongue.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
BREAKING Ottawa public school board, 3 Toronto-area school boards launch lawsuit against social media giants
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and three school boards in the Toronto-area have launched legal action against social media giants, accusing them of "disrupting students' fundamental right to education."
Doctors visiting a Gaza hospital are stunned by the war's toll on Palestinian children
An international team of doctors visiting a hospital in central Gaza was prepared for the worst. But the gruesome impact Israel’s war against Hamas is having on Palestinian children still left them stunned.
Crypt near Marilyn Monroe and Hugh Hefner could fetch US$400,000 at auction
A one-space mausoleum crypt in the vicinity of Marilyn Monroe and Hugh Hefner will go on auction Saturday, when it is expected to reach between US$200,000 and $400,000.
This Toronto restaurant is no longer accepting tips. Here's how it's going
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff – tipping is no longer accepted.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Premiers not being truthful about carbon tax, Trudeau says while sparks fly in Ottawa
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Conservative premiers across the country are 'not telling the truth' when it comes to the carbon tax. Trudeau's comments came as fresh sparks were flying in Ottawa at a recalled House of Commons committee.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
What new auto insurance reforms will mean for Ontarians, if they get introduced
Ontario has among the highest rates for auto insurance premiums in Canada -- just below Alberta and Nova Scotia -- however, the introduction of an insurance reform in the provincial budget could soon lower prices.