Timmins makes immigrants feel more at home with a 'Welcoming Week'
Sept. 10-19 is the time period set aside for Welcoming Week, an annual international opportunity to promote a message of inclusion. For the first time, Timmins is participating.
“It’s a very simple thing to say 'hello. How are you?' And say it with a smile on your face and mean it," said Timmins Mayor George Pirie. "These are wonderful folks. Take a moment to say 'hello' and I’m sure you’ll be impressed."
When Jean-Jacques Fouda from Cameroon, Africa, and enrolled at Universite de Hearst three years ago, he said he felt weird when local people stared at him.
“For now, people change," Fouda said. "We have more of Black people and Indian people. The people here in Timmins, they try to learn more about the people and that for now is going to be normal so that’s very good."
In the coming days, various organizations and businesses will be hosting welcome events. For example, one of them will be how to go about starting a business.
Madison Mizzau, who works at the Timmins Economic Development Corporation (TEDC) as a community development consultant, said newcomers tend to be entrepreneurial.
"That’s been shown in the data and the literature, so by offering workshops and sessions for newcomers -- tips and tricks on what they need to consider to start a new business -- it provides them with that knowledge,” Mizzau said.
“With more immigrants here, we can address employment issues and also there are immigrants opening businesses here -- they're creating employment, as well," added Shashanka Rangi, the Timmins local immigration partnership coordinator for the Timmins and District Multicultural Centre.
Officials with the TEDC said federal figures show that in 2018 and 2019, more than 1,300 study permits were issued to international students in Timmins.
Last week, Northern College officials reported to CTV News that 250 international students will be arriving in Timmins before the end of September.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'Nonsense:' Doug Ford slams lawsuits filed by Ontario school boards against social media platforms
Premier Doug Ford says that lawsuits launched by four Ontario school boards against a trio of social media platforms are “nonsense” and risk becoming a distraction to the work that really matters.
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.
Multiple bridges in Calgary shut down for police incident
Calgary police have shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers deal with a distraught individual.
Tipping is off the table at this Toronto restaurant
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.
King Charles calls for acts of friendship in first public remarks since Kate's cancer diagnosis
King Charles III gave public remarks for Maundy Thursday, addressing the importance of acts of friendship, following his and Catherine, Princess of Wales’ cancer diagnoses.
Record-breaking N.B. lottery winner kept winning ticket on dresser for nearly a year
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
A dog and a bird formed an unlikely friendship. Their separation has infuriated followers
Peggy is a stout and muscular Staffordshire bull terrier, and Molly is a magpie, an Australian bird best known for swooping on humans during breeding season, not for befriending dogs. But in an emotional video posted online, Peggy’s owners announced that the animals had been separated.
Rainfall warnings of up to 90 mm among weather alerts in effect for 7 provinces
Rainfall warnings of up to 90 millimetres, air quality advisories and other alerts have been issued for seven Canadian provinces, according to the latest forecasts.
Gangs netting up to US$3 trillion a year as Southeast Asia human trafficking becomes a global crisis, Interpol says
Human trafficking-fuelled fraud is exploding in Southeast Asia with organized crime rings raking in close to US$3 trillion in illicit revenue annually, the head of Interpol has said in comments that reveal the huge profits being earned by cartels.