BRUDENELL, PEI – May 2, 2014 – In addition to having the opportunity to attend various top-notch conferences, participants at the Forum on Economic Immigration will get a chance to participate in four workshops, each addressing a particular facet of the integration of immigrants into the Island and Canadian community and workplace.

These workshops will be delivered simultaneously but will be offered twice to allow everyone a chance to attend all of them, explains Francis Thériault, coordinator of this forum, which will take place May 26-28 at Rodd Brudenell River Resort. These workshops will run in the morning and afternoon of May 28th.

« Our objective is to provide an overview of the different challenges and opportunities that immigrating individuals and entrepreneurs face as they try to settle on PEI and in the rest of the country. We’ll address both integration into the workplace as well as in community and cultural life, » adds Thériault. « We’ll also examine best practices that will help ensure a successful immigration. »

WORKSHOPS

National Best Practices – Members of the national RDÉE Canada economic development network will present their best practices related to economic immigration. Christophe Caron from Newfoundland will explain the Working Holiday Program, Kyla Quinlan from Nova Scotia will share details about regulated programs, Félicité Nibogora from Saskatchewan will speak about the value of job fairs and Annie Dell from Ontario will discuss « La Bonne Affaire / Emploi Toronto ». Three of the presenters are actually immigrants.

ArtsSmarts: Forestering Tomorrow’s Entrepreneurs – The ArtsSmarts school program helps elementary level students explore and develop their creativity to its full potential. The program helps create a bridge between students, artists (local and immigrant) and communities so that they may work together for their common fulfillment, all while presenting culture and arts as a realistic career option. The presenters, speaking about the importance of the program, will be Mark Sandiford, executive director of Culture PEI; Cécile Arsenault, francophone cultural affairs officer with the PEI Department of Tourism and Culture; and Deborah Cuffley, primary level teacher at École François-Buote.

Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Challenges and Opportunities – Immigrant entrepreneurs who settle in Canada don’t always have it easy since they often have to overcome numerous challenges and obstacles of all kinds. Then those who succeed obviously know how to roll up their sleeves and take advantage of opportunities that come their way. Among those who will provide comments during this workshop will be Juan Manuel Toro Lara, who has worked over the years in all stages of the immigrant integration process.

Integration of Newcomers Into Their Host Community – For immigrants to remain in a particular region, they must feel welcomed and integrated into the host community. Otherwise, they’ll feel out of place and, as has been seen countless times, they’ll move out and settle somewhere else. The three people who will host this workshop will each address a different aspect of this question. Géraldine Cotte, an immigrant originally from France, will share her personal immigration journey. Bernard Delpêche, associate professor of French literature at Acadia University in Nova Scotia, will focus on the integration of international students. Isabelle Butler, a senior counsellor with Insights Learning and Development (Atlantic) Ltd., will show the link between newcomers, their host community and interpersonal communication skills required to ensure a successful integration.

THE FORUM

The first day of the bilingual forum, Monday, May 26, will include a friendly golf tournament, a sampling of local flavors, networking, music and card games. Tuesday, May 27, will feature gatherings of immigrant entrepreneurs and meetings for RDÉE Canada’s immigration officers. The forum will be officially kicked off with an evening banquet featuring guest speaker Matt Adolphe, the finals of the Dragons Contest and a musical showcase with networking. On the schedule for Wednesday, May 28, will be a breakfast conference with guest speaker Juan Manuel Toro Lara, the workshops, a luncheon conference and a plenary session.

While most of the event will be held in French, some of the speakers will give their presentations in English. Simultaneous translation services will also be provided from French to English to all guests can understand what is being said.

The coordinator advises those who wish to participate in the Forum to register as soon as possible since the number of available spaces is becoming quite limited. For more details about the forum and to register, please consult the website https://www.rdeeipe.net/forum-on-economic-immigration/. It should be noted that participants can pay their registration fee online through PayPal.

The Forum on Economic Immigration is an important component of RDÉE Prince Edward Island’s LIENS project (Linking Economic Immigration to our Successes). This project is funded through contributions from Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the Prince Edward Island Office of Immigration, Settlement and Population. The workshops will be sponsored by Western Union.

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CUTLINES:

Félicité Nibogora, immigration officer from Saskatchewan, will discuss the value of job fairs

Bernard Delpêche, associate professor at Acadia University, will speak about the integration of international students.

Mark Sandiford, executive director of Culture PEI, will speak about the value of the ArtsSmarts program.

Géraldine Cotte, originally from France, will share her experience of immigrating to Canada.

For more information:
Francis Thériault
Coordinator
Forum on Economic Immigration
(902) 370-7333
francis@rdeeipe.org