I'll start.
I would like to thank you for inviting us here this morning. I will introduce myself as Alex Istifo from St. Maratken Society in Saskatoon. I immigrated to Canada in 1983. I'm from Iraq, and I've worked with refugees for over 20 years, in private sponsorships and settlements and training refugees around Saskatoon. I work with open-door societies lots of times, and I've translated. I even translated at an embassy in Turkey for an interview one time. So I've been around the world a few times, around refugees. I've worked with refugees almost since I've been in Canada.
I'm one of the successful refugees in Canada. I brought all my family to Saskatoon. In 1990 my parents flew to Turkey, and I brought them to Canada as well, and right now my family employs about 200 to 250 people in Saskatoon.