Promise of Home to host Our home is here – A Community Conversation
Promise of Home is hosting the Our home is here – A Community Conversation on October 20-21 at the Cultural Centre, located at 28 Saunders St., in Fredericton.
This free public event brings community members and policymakers together to respond to stories of newcomer and immigrant experiences in New Brunswick.
Promise of Home is a research project that supports local immigrants to share their stories of whether Fredericton feels like home to them or not.
Started in 2019, the project is led by Dr. Gül Çalışkan, a sociology professor at St. Thomas University who specializes in studying experiences of immigration.
For Dr. Çalışkan, this event is essential because it will allow the Fredericton community to express itself: “We all know the importance of making our communities more welcoming to immigrants so that they stay and make New Brunswick their home. But it is also vital to create a society where the next generation can grow up with the diversity that the rest of the country enjoys. For those reasons, Promise of Home has been collecting stories for the past two years and now we want to share them with the Fredericton community and have a conversation all together as a community.”
Dr. Çalışkan’s current team includes Dr. Sophie Lavoie, from the University of New Brunswick’s Department of Culture and Media Studies, and various research assistants who have been working with the immigrant community in Fredericton to collect stories.
Dr. Lavoie, whose work analyses Latino writers’ experiences of Canada, is interested in the way people tell their stories: “We can learn a lot from people’s testimonials about what is being done right and what needs more work in the immigration process.”
The event kicks off with an interactive audio-visual exhibit on Friday, October 20th from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. Attendees can explore stories of immigrants and newcomers, leave messages about their experiences, and/or share their own story of making Fredericton home.
On Saturday, October 21st, community members will talk through the stories, identify what issues matter most, and create suggestions for policymakers to strengthen and retain diverse communities in New Brunswick. Activities will run from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
During the event, Auralia Brooke, a doctoral student in the Faculty of Education at UNB will be collecting and examining people’s responses to the stories.
Complimentary lunch and snacks will be available for all who register to attend. Register ( https://www.eventbrite.com/e/our-home-is-here-a-community-conversation-tickets 687221597297?aff=oddtdtcreator) by October 1st to help us plan. All are invited!
Media contact:
Valeria Solis
Research Assistant
Promise of Home
promiseofhome@gmail.com
