Roundtable discussion with stories and information
on resettlement and integration of newcomers in Ottawa.
This event will take place at Gallery 101, 51b Young St. Ottawa.
Saturday, February 27, 2 PM – 5PM
At the closing of the exhibition, There’s Room, Ottawa Artists Respond to the Refugee Crisis, Gallery 101 has invited six speakers who are actively involved with the settlement and integration of newcomers to our city. Barbara Gamble, Nhung Hoang, Shahla Khan Salter, Diana Nemiroff, Kaitlin Walker and Renée Taylor will speak about different ways people can contribute to further the social process of integration and renewal that continuously takes place in the city at large, from their personal perspectives.
Barbara Gamble will talk about Refugee 613, an organization that provides communication and connections in support of local partners in sponsorship and settlement of refugees related to the Syrian crisis. She is open to questions about what people in Ottawa can do to make newcomers feel welcome in Ottawa. Barbara is a professional artist and cultural advocate. She has been involved with welcoming and settling refugees in Ottawa since the 1979 when she was one of the organizers of Project 4000. http://www.refugee613.ca/
Diana Nemiroff is a member of a group that recently welcomed a Syrian family into the city. The group’s main responsibility is to help the family integrate successfully into their new life in Canada. Diana will talk about her personal experience with this process so far. Diana has been an active member of the Ottawa arts community for more than thirty years, first as a curator of contemporary and modern art at the National Gallery of Canada, and until her retirement in 2012 as director of the Carleton University Art Gallery.
Shahla Khan Salter will talk about the way both western Islamophobia and western inclusiveness have shaped her Muslim identity. She is Director of the Canadian non profit organization, Universalist Muslims,www.universalistmuslims.org, spreading awareness of understandings of Islam and Muslims that are inclusive, LGBTQ affirming and uphold the self determination of all genders. She is also a lawyer and mom of three children.http://www.universalistmuslims.org/
Renée Taylor and Kaitlin Walker will speak about Welcome Box, a non-profit organization based in the National Capital Region that aims to provide our newest community members with essential items through donations from local residents.
Kaitlin Walker is an M.A. student in Political Science at Carleton. Following her interest in African studies, she interned with a NGO in Malawi for a semester. Renée Taylor graduated from the University of Windsor, with a degree in Political Science and Psychology. She currently serves as the Parliamentary Assistant for Sheila Malcolmson, Critic for the Status of Women.
Nhung Hoang was one of the Vietnamese people who came to Ottawa with Marion Dewar’s “Project 4000” in the eighties. She will speak about her personal and professional experience of her settlement in Ottawa, and what points to consider when resettling new immigrants and refugees. Nhung is a lawyer whose practice included real estate, immigration, estates, wills and powers of attorney, business law, and family law. Nhung recently retired, but is still a member in good standing of the Law Society of Upper Canada.
Gallery 101 gratefully acknowledges the City of Ottawa, the Ontario Arts Council (an agency of the Government of Ontario) and the Canada Council for the Arts. Gallery 101 thanks the Asinabka Festival, our members, volunteers, partners, and all our relations.