One stop shop to meet many local organizations and connect to resources
Whether you’re new to the area or you’ve been in Selkirk all your life, learning more about what local resources are available is always a great idea. If you’d like to learn about a bunch of organizations conveniently all in one place, or have any questions about obtaining many different sorts of identification, École Selkirk Junior High(Stanley Avenue entrance) has you covered with their ID & Benefit Information Clinic and Resource Fair on April 17.
“We’re going to have organizations from around town out to support, (in particular) newcomer families with connecting to the work that’s being done in our town. There will be the ID clinic for SIN(Social Insurance Number) cards, and for health cards, IERHA will be there. Those are the big ones, and The Southern Chiefs will be there to do Treaty Cards,” said Krystal Wilkinson, who is the International Student Program Director at the Lord Selkirk Regional Comprehensive Secondary School.
The clinic and resource fair will take place from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. and help people obtain documents like their Treaty Cards, Birth Certificates, Social Insurance Numbers, Government benefits & applications.
Though the event is geared to help newcomers to our community, you don’t have to be a newcomer to attend. Anyone wanting to learn more about local resources or who needs help obtaining their ID and Benefit Information should be able to be helped.
“It’s open and inclusive to anyone in the community, so anyone who could benefit from learning more about getting those legal documents or connecting to benefits or if somebody is looking for a new job or a hobby. We’re trying to make it a one stop shop for all things Selkirk. We’re hoping to do this maybe once a year or so, and grow it each time we host it. The idea being that there are groups in town organizing similar events already, but it’s awesome to have multiple opportunities throughout the year for people to find what they’re looking for,” she said.
Wilkinson explained that it’s important to be able to connect people with local resources that they might not even know are available to them, and, for new Canadians, getting support when they are starting out helps the whole family.
“A big thing for me, in education, is when we support the adults in the family, we can help take down barriers for the children to be more successful. This event specifically being geared towards immigrant families is because there’s a lot of immigrant students that we work with at the Comp and in other schools who are sort of taking on a very adult role as they help navigate school and life in a new place with their parents. There are a lot of kids taking care of younger siblings, while their parents work hard to start fresh, and they do things like help with translation services if the parents have a lower level of English. A lot of these kids are sort of carrying the worries that come with immigration, because there’s so much uncertainty, there’s so much red tape, there’s so much paperwork in general for these folks to do. So, if we want our newcomer students to be successful, the best way for that to happen is for us to make sure that their families are getting what they need,” she said.
For anyone planning to attend to get help with identification, as anyone who’s previously had to do this kind of paperwork knows, it’s best to bring as many resources as you can to make the process easier.
“I would say, bring a portfolio of the most important things that you already have. A lot of it is tied together. To get your SIN, you need a birth certificate. If you’re applying for your passport, you need some kind of proof of ID. So, if you have bits and pieces of those already, it’s important to bring your driver’s license, some kind of photo ID, or whatever you already have with you, because all of those agencies work together to put together the final product,” said Wilkinson.
The Lord Selkirk School Division isn’t hosting this event alone, as they are teaming up with Seven Oaks Immigrant Services, which received federal funding to work in our school division.
Seven Oaks Immigrant Services is already connected to Ruth Hooker and Lord Selkirk Regional Comprehensive Secondary Schools, helping newcomer students and their families. They have staff who can communicate in over 15 languages, which really helps eliminate the language barrier between home and school.
Jana McKee, Program Director for Seven Oaks Immigrant Services, said, “We support newcomer families who are settling into their new community with employment, education, language, finance, community engagement and navigating systems. We can help Permanent Residents for 6 years. We love to partner with community organizations and leaders.”
In addition to getting help with government paperwork, connecting to our community is important for everyone, and there’s a long list of organizations that will be at the clinic and fair for just that. They are:
– Community Wellness
– Adult Ed
– AIM for Work
– Selkirk Employment Services
– Gaynor Family Regional Library
– Community Mental Health
– Growing Years
– START program
– MB Key Worker
– Families First
– Harm Reduction
– City of Selkirk
– Huddle
– Selkirk Community Pool
– Red River Recreational Soccer Association
– LSEC
– Selkirk Canoe & Kayak Centre
– Selkirk Ukrainian School of Dance
– Regional Connections
– Selkirk Community Church
– Inclusion Selkirk
– Lord Selkirk School Division
– Our Daily Bread Soup Kitchen …and more
Wilkinson hopes that this event helps out attendees with their needs and also helps them connect to the community.
“I’m from this community, and I know that there’s a lot of good folks doing a lot of good work, and so if we can bring those people together and form connections between those agencies, but also introduce people who are new to the community to all the good work that’s being done, I think that connection is a really powerful thing that makes us stronger. I also think that when we’re focusing on our newcomer families in the community, that diversity is such a great thing for our community. I see my own kids going to school with people who are from different countries, and I think it’s beautiful when they come home, and they’re curious about these cultures and languages, and we have so much to learn from one another,” she said.
She encourages anyone who feels they might benefit from attending this event to stop by.
“There’s going to be lots of nice people looking to help. There’s going to be some grocery gift cards up for grabs as door prizes, which also helps at a time when things are really expensive and costly for families. So, if that’s a little bit of an incentive to come, meet some new people in the community and build some new relationships, I think that’s a really positive thing,” said Wilkinson.
