Honourable Chair and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.
I first would like to acknowledge the Algonquin nation, whose traditional and unceded territory we are gathered upon today. Also, in becoming a convention refugee in Canada, I am broadly thankful for all the nations across Canada for allowing me to grow in this country and live on their lands.
My name is Zdravko Cimbaljevic. I was born in a small country called Montenegro, in the Balkans. About five years ago, I arrived in Canada seeking protection on the grounds of sexual orientation. As the first openly gay man in my country, I had started fighting for my community, which needed a voice. We all needed a voice at that moment. I managed to open the first LGBTIQ shelter in the region, and that gave me the broader spectrum of what kinds of settlement services that region needs, apart from the state's, which are really lacking. Unfortunately, after three years of fighting for and leading my community, I was forced to leave my country due to hundreds of death threats, attacks and a lack of state protection—none.
Before I came out as an openly gay man, I embraced LGBTIQ2 activism as my core responsibility in human rights advocacy. I was already actively working in building education, housing and other settlement services for Roma communities in the Balkans. I also have a broad knowledge of international settlement services that I gained at the international level while working with homeless youth in the U.K. and Venezuela. After my arrival in Canada in 2013, I started volunteering for organizations such as Rainbow Refugee and Foundation of Hope, two organizations that I admire for their incredible work in supporting LGBTIQ2 refugees and newcomers. I also had a great chance to work for settlement services in B.C., such as MOSAIC and the Vancouver AIDS Society.
With the professional and personal knowledge that I have gained in providing settlement services, I want to say that I'm very grateful to be here among you as an individual and a human rights advocate. It gives me the opportunity to speak from the heart, without any political intent or interest, as a human being who cares for others and a proud resident of this great country that I now call home.
In working and volunteering with LGBTIQ refugees and newcomers in Canada who are settling here, I'm happy to see the settlement providers and organizations that are here today as well, with social workers and fieldworkers improving their practices and providing equity throughout their services. They are individuals who spend many of their days talking to people, spending time with those in need in order to present them with opportunities, and giving emotional support while back-to-back trying to improve the quality of their lives in the entire process. That can be really hard sometimes, and I can tell you why.
While I am confident about people and organizations that are willing to help in running settlement programs, I am deeply concerned about the insufficient resources these settlement services receive from provincial and federal fixed funds—not one year, not three years, but fixed funds—that provide uninterrupted support to newcomers, immigrants and refugees in getting over barriers they may face, plus making sure that the clients go through minimum stress on top of the stress they already have.
Vancouver is my home, and it is already known that the cost of living and the cost of housing are unimaginable for many of us. A friend of mine who works as a social worker in the Surrey hospital shared a frustrating reality when it comes to referring a patient to case management in settlement services. When they call for a referral, settlement services are not even able to take names anymore for the wait-list, because they are maxed out and can't provide any help. Their resources can't support any more people, and then the hospital has to discharge their patients who have need of settlement services, sending them back into the community and the streets without any further guidance.
As already mentioned in previous speeches from other fellow colleagues, funding is paramount for organizations to be able to expand their services and provide enough help for newcomers and refugees who are already struggling to start their lives from zero. This is mainly for settlement services that are working in the core areas where I live and where many newcomers settle, such as Surrey, Burnaby, east Vancouver, Downtown Eastside, to name a few. Funding for translation services, which we heard from Hena, helped her and her family in the first days after arriving in Canada. I will echo that and say it is both translation services and documentation, but also outreach and support in hospitals, schools, dentist visits and stuff like that.
We are working with newcomers and refugees who don't speak English or French, and translation services are one of the first challenges we face. How can anyone know what someone needs or present what we can provide for service, if there's no clear understanding on both sides? It's very hard.
Also, faster and streamlined logistical processes that were mentioned previously are needed for addressing the needs of newcomers and refugees for legal, medical and other help. Many lawyers and doctors are sometimes unable to react fast and help because of the long process with the logistical requirements.
Last, there is a need for increased support for mental health for newcomers and refugees. The adjustments are frequently far more difficult than anyone realizes. Many of us use behaviours...and come from the countries and cultures where little positive attention is paid towards mental health. For example, in Montenegro, to admit that you are struggling with some mental health issues profiles immediately as crazy. Many people hide it within their families, as it is considered as an embarrassment.
That culture is inherited. It arrives with us here, and we need to show that this is not the case here. Mental health in B.C. definitely needs more attention than ever. We can make sure to spread the message and tell newcomers and refugees who suffer from mental health that it is okay and we are here collectively, as a society, as a country, to help them.
As someone who is passionately involved in this work, I hope that these recommendations and my statement will trigger some conversations, and that my points will be considered within this survey. I am confident that my statement will not be too far from all of the others who have provided this support to live in B.C. and across Canada.
Thank you.