New partnership to aid in immigrant support

PENTICTON – South Okanagan Immigrant and Community Services has entered into a new partnership with Citizen and Immigration Canada to improve services to Penticton and the South Okanagan’s increasing ethnic population.

“We are one area in B.C. selected to take part in this federal program, that began in Ontario in 2008,” said Nora Hunt-Haft, local immigration partnership coordinator.

The federal program will support a Local Immigration Partnership Council for the South Okanagan-Similkameen.

Fifty community leaders will gather four times annually to build a strategy for the region to attract, integrate and sustain immigrants and newcomers. The council is made up of a cross section of community business, political, government and service leaders.

Hunt-Haft said approximately 100 new immigrants arrive in the Penticton and South Okanagan-Similkameen region each year. Traditionally, newcomers come to the area from such countries as the United Kingdom, India and the United States, but have recently shifted in emphasis to countries such as China and the Philippines, she added.

“There are 23 countries represented regionally, and there is a growing awareness that we have a multicultural society here,” Hunt-Haft said.

South Okanagan Immigrant and Community Services provides services to immigrants to help them integrate into South Okanagan society by providing assistance finding jobs, homes and information about their new country.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad at sarstad@infonews.ca or call 250-488-3065. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

Steve Arstad

I have been looking for news in the South Okanagan - SImilkameen for 20 years, having turned a part time lifelong interest into a full time profession. After five years publishing a local newsletter, several years working as a correspondent / stringer for several local newspapers and seven years as editor of a Similkameen weekly newspaper, I joined iNFOnews.ca in 2014. My goal in the news industry has always been to deliver accurate and interesting articles about local people and places. My interest in the profession is life long - from my earliest memories of grade school, I have enjoyed writing.
As an airborne geophysical surveyor I travelled extensively around the globe, conducting helicopter borne mineral surveys.
I also spent several years at an Okanagan Falls based lumber mill, producing glued-wood laminated products.
As a member of the Kaleden community, I have been involved in the Kaleden Volunteer Fire Department for 22 years, and also serve as a trustee on the Kaleden Irrigation District board.
I am currently married to my wife Judy, of 26 years. We are empty-nesters who enjoy living in Kaleden with our Welsh Terrier, Angus, and cat, Tibbs.
Our two daughters, Meagan and Hayley, reside in Richmond and Victoria, respectively.

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