Canada is considered as one of the most multicultural countries in the world. People from different nations immigrate to Canada for a better life and for safety and refuge. They also hope to live in the country where freedom not only from want but also of speech, the press, religion and equality among the races, sexes and age is observed, protected by its constitution and its laws.
In spite of all the responsibilities, cautions and care being given by governmental and non-governmental agencies, some forms of discriminations still exist. Most of them are very subtle and difficult to detect. Some groups are more vulnerable to discrimination than others especially if the members are not proficient in speaking the official languages of Canada.
To empower themselves against discrimination ethnocultural groups have formed themselves into organizations. Often led by members who have been in the country longer, they hold orientation sessions on settlement, how to find jobs and how to deal with common problems of newcomers. Most of these organizations, however, exist for socialization, holding fiestas that they celebrated in the Philippines and as hang-outs for weekends. The Filipinos have approximately 250 organizations in the Greater Toronto Areas. Many of them have existed for years. Others, after a while, had misunderstandings among members and disintegrated.
The Canadian Ethnocultural Council has existed for thirty-four years. It is an umbrella organization representing about 30 national ethnocultural organizations and is non-profit, non-partisan and non- governmental. This entity aims to work towards equality of access and opportunity for all Canadians and to promote the understanding of the multicultural reality of Canada as defined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Multiculturalism Act.
In pursuant of these goals the organization has organized events, conferences, seminars and workshops. It has also engaged in community-based research and training for developing resource materials. In all these years CEC has worked in partnerships with numerous government departments as well as the private sector in the fields of media, race relations, health, technology and business, language development, suffrage, dispute resolutions, justice, heritage and correctional services.
CEC is the sole distributor of the material Transforming Our Organization; A Tool Kit for Planning and Monitoring Anti-Racism Multicultural Changes.
One of the significant accomplishments of the CEC was its projects in the field of health among high-risk immigrant communities in Canada. The first one was in the area of diabetes. A significant research on prevention and treatment of this disease and empowering the communities concerned to be able to raise awareness of their members to take care of themselves, has been very encouraging. Community leaders from each of the high-risk groups were invited for information and training. These leaders met with members of their own communities to disseminate facts about the disease, how they can prevent having it and the resources in the community that they can access for treatment and further education.
The most recent project of CEC toward health and physical fitness is “Hepatitis C, Hepatitis B and HIV in High-Risk Immigrant Communities”. This project has been very significant because it provided the concerned communities various information about these diseases that were not previously widely known. One can be a carrier of the viruses of these diseases without being aware of them. By the time symptoms appear, the disease may already be chronic. The study also gave information on how they are transmitted, how they can be prevented, treated and cured.
A workshop presentation on this topic was held recently in the Greater Toronto Areas wherein leaders representing fifteen Filipino and multicultural organizations attended. The response was very positive and enthusiastic. The group was very appreciative of the information they received. They exchanged ideas on how to share the salient facts they gathered especially those concerned on assessment, treatment and cure. The Canadian Ethnocultural Council is financially supported by the Public Health Agency of Canada in this particular project. To insure access to information that pertain to these issue that are very significant to the ethnocultural communities CEC has all materials distributed to the particular groups translated in their own first languages.
This article is a salute of appreciation to the Canadian Ethnocultural Council for their contribution to a progressive multicultural life in Canada.
Written by: Rosalina E. Bustamante
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April 12, 2014