Immigration and Community Integration

Some decisions we make for ourselves and our families, decisions that are best when looking ahead to the future, are not the easiest to move forward with. But when a choice presents great challenge or hardship, it’s often the clearest sign you’ve made the right one. Nour Alrefai knows what it takes to make the best decision for your family, even when it challenges you. Even when it might be the most challenging choice of your life, not because you’re unsure if it’s right, but because you know it is. In October of 2018, Nour’s husband, Mohammad Abu Kharoub, ended up leaving Syria for Pictou...

Coming to a new country with unfamiliar customs and a different language, alone and pregnant, was scary but not insurmountable for Bahati Hategekimana. Originally from Rwanda, Bahati came to Pictou County via Kenya as a as a skilled-refugee using the Economic Mobility Pathway Pilot (EMPP) about a year ago. Creating a new home wasn’t easy, she says. “There is initial excitement, especially for someone who is coming from a refugee background, so it was exciting to no longer be a refugee. And in that excitement, you forget that it was going to be hard. Then you get here and you realize that you...

The greatest part about coming to Canada and Pictou County for Abdalazeez Alabbas was the opportunity for a fresh start. “We got a new life,” he smiles. Abdalazeez and his wife, Lamis Alhassan, and two little girls are Syrians who fled their country and settled as refugees in Lebanon. “The greatest moment was when we arrived in Canada, when the airplane landed at Pearson in Toronto, on July 9, 2021.” What helped the family tremendously when they arrived in Pictou County, he says, was the friendly atmosphere they encountered. “We found this area to be one hundred per cent welcoming – people...

Jean Bosco Rekayo Muhire was a university student in his home country of Rwanda when civil war was raging. The war broke up when he was finishing his education in public health nursing. He and his wife, Marie Rose, and their daughter Stella, fled to Kenya in 1994 then eventually came to Canada in March 2022. He came to Pictou County through the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot and began working as a continuing care assistant at Glen Haven Manor. And he hasn’t looked back. “I was happy when told about coming to Canada; the government of Canada was assisting us as refugees and giving us an...

Nature is free for everyone to enjoy and Active Pictou County has been working with newcomers to engage them in all the great outdoors has to offer. Sally O'Neill, municipal physical activity leader for Active Pictou County, says her organization has been supporting newcomer community integration – and having fun while doing it! “There’s been lots of opportunity to share outdoor and physical activity equipment with newcomers that they may not be as familiar with,” said O’Neill during a recent Parks Canada Learn to Camp event held on the grounds of Northumberland Regional High School in Alma....