April 4, 2007

The helping hands of a new Canadian

By Ashley Tonkens
atonkens@uwo.ca

After travelling thousands of kilometres to escape the war at home in Bosnia, 23-year-old Joseph Jilitovich still hadn't gone far enough.

In the middle of downtown London, he was scared and alone at the reception house of the Cross Cultural Learner Centre. The centre is a not-for-profit, government-funded agency that helps immigrants and refugees settle into their new community.

Unable to speak English and away from his parents and three older sisters for the first time, Jilitovich wanted to travel a few extra kilometres, through the deserted and foreign streets of his new home, just to call his family back in Bosnia.

But to call from the reception house, Jilitovich needed a phone card, and at that time there were none he could use to call Bosnia.

So instead, he walked the 13 blocks from Dundas and Lyle streets to the Bell building beside the courthouse to call.

"I can't forget the first time hearing my mother's voice. She started to cry right away. So that was really, really hard, and I wanted to go back."

Photo by Ashley Tonkens

Joseph Jilitovich is a former client and now employee of the Cross Cultural Learner Centre.

He had arrived in Canada only days before, in July 1994, with $4 in his pocket and two suitcases in his hands.

Thirteen years later, the latest Canadian census has uncovered that most of Canada's recent population growth has come from immigration, rather than natural population growth. And London is no exception.

The 2006 census report revealed that two-thirds of the population growth in Canada over the last five years was from immigration.

London alone had the fourth-highest rate of newcomers per capita in 2005, and 11,000 immigrants have made their homes here since 2001.

Rod Beaujot, a sociology professor at the University of Western Ontario, says that as more immigrants and refugees make Canada their home, the more important settlement agencies will become.

During the conflict in Bosnia in the early 1990s, many Bosnians fleeing the country were granted refugee status in Canada.

As a government-sponsored refugee, Jilitovich was given financial assistance for a year, and the government arranged for him to go to the reception house upon his arrival in London.

For nearly a month he stayed at the centre's former 10-bedroom reception house, where newcomers could stay temporarily, cook for themselves and get accustomed to the area while searching for permanent accommodations.

In July 2006, that reception house was sold, and since December 2006, newcomers have been housed on the third floor of the centre's office building on Dundas Street, where even more people can be lodged.

The centre also offers the help of counsellors, who take clients around London and acclimatize them to the city and the culture, helping them with social insurance numbers, health cards, registering for school, shopping and settling into the community.

Mary Williamson, the Cross Cultural Learner Centre's executive director, says an average of 3,000 immigrants and refugees come through the centre every year.

The federal and provincial governments say they are aware of the increasing number of immigrants in Canada, and initiatives like the Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement are designed to keep up with the growing numbers.

The 2005 agreement says that Citizenship and Immigration Canada plans to invest $920 million in new funding for settlement and language training programs and services in Ontario over five years.

But Williamson says that federal funding is not the biggest problem that the centre faces. Rather, the problems arise when immigrants and refugees are not eligible to access that funding.

Some newcomers do not fit the conditions to be entitled to certain settlement programs. Refugees, for example, do not qualify to have the government pay for certain types of English classes.

In such cases, the provincial government and the centre's own fundraising efforts must step in to pay for the programs.

Over a decade after arriving in Canada, Jilitovich is now on the other side of things. He works as the centre's receptionist, so his face is among the first newcomers see when they go to the centre.

Photo by Ashley Tonkens

The Cross Cultural Learner Centre's old reception house where newcomers stayed while looking for accommodations.

His desk faces anyone coming off the elevator on the second floor of the old, brown brick building that houses the centre. From there he greets, welcomes and directs newcomers for appointments with counsellors and tells them where to go for various courses and workshops.

But he still vividly remembers his first hours in the country: the trip from the Toronto airport to London.

"I remember when Robert Q took us from the airport to London. Everything was confusing for me. Even the way the houses are built, you know, (and) a highway full of trucks. It was a shock for me."

In Europe, houses are built with different materials, are different shapes and even have different coloured shingles on the roofs, he explains.

After a month at the reception house, Jilitovich found his own apartment on Adelaide Street. But he felt isolation, not pride or independence, the first time he walked in the door.

"I am on my own now," he had told himself.

After eight months, Jilitovich developed a rash all over his body. The dermatologist told him it was from shock.

"The first year was really, really hard. First of all, to adapt to a new community, new laws; everything was basically new."

He recalls seeing and experiencing things for the first time here, and remembers how different everything was from back home.

"Everything's strange for us," he says.

Even something like shopping.

"When I saw the grocery store, I almost passed out."

Back home, Jilitovich knew only small food markets, and was shocked to see a grocery store the size of a warehouse.

But the little things can be the most important, he says: "how to use the stove, how to take the bus, where to go for shopping."

Without the help of counsellors or people willing to volunteer their time, most newcomers would be lost, he says.

But Jilitovich did not regret his decision to leave Bosnia, his family, friends and the pizzeria that he once owned. Instead, he was determined to make a life for himself in Canada.

"Being on my own, living on my own, that was one shock for me. The priority for me was just to improve my English, and find a job and try to help my parents and family. I was lucky; after six months I got a job."

Jilitovich began taking courses and a job-training class at the London Training Centre, and got a job as a cook at the Delta London Armouries Hotel.

Throughout this time, he also kept in contact with the centre and some of its employees, who often call clients and check in after they first move in to their own place.

"Most newcomers just want a human being that they can bring their questions, problems, concerns, celebrations to," says Williamson.

Settlement agencies "are very important," says Beaujot, because "they provide a point of contact" for newcomers.

Jilitovich says without the help of the settlement agency, he doesn't know how his life in Canada would have turned out.

"I think I would be devastated," he says. "The settlement organizations across Ontario are very helpful thing for the newcomers."

Less than a year after his arrival, Jilitovich realized he wanted to help newcomers just as he was helped.

So he started working as relief staff at the reception house, cooking and cleaning for new clients.

A couple of years later, he began taking certification courses to become involved with the orientation process at the centre, explaining to newcomers their rights as immigrants or refugees, telling them how much money they would receive and other introductory information.

Eventually, a permanent reception position opened up at the centre in 2002, and he got the job. He also became one of the first men to work at Women's Community House, where he is now a part-time cook.

About half of the centre's 50 full- and part-time employees were once clients.

Photo by Ashley Tonkens

Since December 2006, the centre's new reception house is on the third floor of the office building on Dundas Street.

"It's not just a job for them; it's a way of repaying Canada and the centre for the help they received, and they want to give the same back to other people," Williamson says.

Because they have already experienced another culture and what it's like to be new in Canada, former clients have the skills to help other newcomers with language barriers and settling into a new culture, she says.

"I know how I felt when I came to Canada. From my own feelings, it is good to share," Jilitovich says. "If they are scared, upset or whatever, you would share your experience and how you overcome that."

Although he still misses his family and sees them as often as possible, Jilitovich now has permanent immigrant status in Canada, and says he no longer fits in back in Bosnia.

"When I go there, I feel that I do not belong there any more."

He recently found out that he got a position in administration for the centre's assessment program, and hopes to start soon. He will be helping to assess clients for their proficiency in English, and then referring them to the proper English courses.

But he says one of the most important things he and his co-workers bring to their job is their dedication to make this community a home for all its members.

Although the centre is technically open only between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Jilitovich says it's really a 24-hour operation, even if employees don't get paid for more than eight hours a day.

"We survive. We provide professional service no matter how much money we have. Because most of us are Canadian-born or immigrants that have sympathy for newcomers. So no matter whether I will be paid for overtime or not, we will stay and do our job."