Event details

An announcement from the Mennonite New Life Centre and Newcomer Advocacy Committee:

On behalf of the Mennonite New Life Centre and our Newcomer Advocacy Committee, we would like to invite you to participate in our community forum "Refusing to settle for less: Newcomer policy recommendations to overcome poverty." This forum will be held on Saturday March 27th from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm in our meeting space at 1774 Queen Street East. We expect to attract an audience of 100-150 people, drawn from newcomer communities, the community service sector, organized labour, business, and government.

The Mennonite New Life Centre is a vibrant, multi-cultural settlement agency for newcomers, with a vision for a city and province where people from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds participate fully in the social, economic and political life of Toronto and Ontario. Our programs bring together community engagement and community services, working together with newcomers to reduce insecurity and enable integration, strengthen voices and increase social equality. Our Newcomer Advocacy Committee is a vehicle for engaging newcomers in civic participation. This Committee has led the design and organization of our March 27 Forum.

One of the key purposes of the forum is to present public policy recommendations arising from a participatory action research project on access to fair and meaningful employment for newcomers. From June to August 2009, the Mennonite New Life Centre conducted a series of seven focus groups, engaging newcomers from diverse cultural and professional backgrounds in collective analysis of employment barriers and the formulation of policy recommendations to improve access to the labour market. During the forum, we hope to engage a wide variety of stakeholders in dialogue regarding newcomer employment challenges and policy proposals, and to identify new ways of working together so that newcomers might contribute their skills and their ideas to this country.

Your participation is key to the success of this forum. We look forward to hearing your experiences, ideas and proposals for improving access to fair and meaningful employment for newcomers and building strong and inclusive communities where immigrants and refugees participate fully in civic life. Your experience in this area will help us to identify the proposals and strategies with the greatest potential for success.

We look forward to your participation in our March 27th Forum. Please mark this date in your calendar and confirm your interest with Project Coordinator Adriana Salazar at 416-699-4527 X 229 or asalazar@mnlct.org. We encourage you to register by March 1st. Please send completed registration forms to Mennonite New Life Centre, 1774 Queen St E, Toronto ON, M4L 1G7, or fax it to 416-699-2207.