Evidence of meeting #88 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was language.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Salma Zahid Liberal Scarborough Centre, ON
Do you know of any programs in place for youth, some after-school programs or some programs on the weekends, to help the youth connect with each other?
As an Individual
We do have a youth program, and we always encourage all the children to attend it. We have programs for the women, such as sewing or computer programs, to attend after school and on the weekends, too.
Liberal
Salma Zahid Liberal Scarborough Centre, ON
Are many Yazidi youth and women coming to these programs?
Liberal
Salma Zahid Liberal Scarborough Centre, ON
What lessons can we learn so that we are well prepared to welcome the new refugees? What needs to be done?
As an Individual
Just bring them here, and give them the second chance they need in life. These people have lost faith in humanity in general. By coming here, they get involved in the community. They attend school. They are learning their way. They're integrating, but it's going to take them a bit longer than other communities because of what they went through. However, they are doing well. They are integrating.
Liberal
Salma Zahid Liberal Scarborough Centre, ON
Are there any specific issues with the youth that you have heard about?
As an Individual
No, I don't have any large issues. From talking to them on a daily basis, I can say they are going to school. They're doing well. They're learning the language. That's their first goal, to learn the language, because they said, “Without the language, we're still blind.” They are working very hard. Most of them take extra classes and get involved in volunteering just to learn the language.
Liberal
Salma Zahid Liberal Scarborough Centre, ON
Ms. Smith, how many Yazidi families do you think there are in Calgary?
As an Individual
I can't actually say for certain, but I hear from other connections I have made in the community that there are about seven families. I asked Gule if she's been in touch with any of them. She said she has talked with them on the phone a bit, but no, she has not had the opportunity to even meet with them.
Liberal
Salma Zahid Liberal Scarborough Centre, ON
Are there any opportunities, or has anyone thought about how we can connect those seven families with each other? Maybe they could meet sometimes on the weekends or something.
As an Individual
Yes, that will be made a little simpler now that I have identified a woman in the community who speaks Kermanji. I really hope to be able to facilitate that. Having said that, I work full time and am a mother of five children myself. It's difficult sometimes, but it's something I desperately would like to see happen.
Liberal
Salma Zahid Liberal Scarborough Centre, ON
What lessons do you think we have learned so that we can help other Yazidi families who will be coming to Canada to integrate better?
As an Individual
As I mentioned before, we cannot treat this community as we have been treating other newcomers. There are some very unique needs that we need to acknowledge.
As Omar said, it might take a bit longer, but that doesn't mean it's not worthwhile. Interpretation services might need to be made available a bit longer. Mental health services may need to last a bit longer and be a bit more in depth. We're doing some of the right things, but not for long enough periods of time and not in the deep and meaningful ways they need to happen.
I think we're heading in the right direction, I really and truly do, but we need to take a closer look at how to make this work better, because right now it is broken.
Liberal
Salma Zahid Liberal Scarborough Centre, ON
Mr. Chacon or Ms. Tabet, would you like to add anything about the lessons we have learned and how we can make the integration of newcomers better in Canada?
Executive Director, Interpretation Services, Cultural Interpretation Services for Our Communities
For certain. One of the lessons—something we underestimated—was that when we knew they were coming, all we knew was that they spoke Kermanji. Understanding all the different languages and dialects they speak is also very important in order to address their needs. Better communication often would be much more useful. We take steps, but sometimes we miss.
One of the difficulties we are finding here in this city is that often they are mislabelled. They assume, because the Yazidis come from the borders of Syria or Iraq, that they speak Arabic, so they send Arabic interpreters. In a way, that is insulting to them because of all the baggage they are carrying. Better education is needed among the centres, as well as ensuring we have the linguistic capacity to be able to assist....
Liberal
Salma Zahid Liberal Scarborough Centre, ON
How different are those dialects? About how many dialects are spoken?
Executive Director, Interpretation Services, Cultural Interpretation Services for Our Communities
The Kurdish language breaks down into two main dialects. Kermanji, I think, breaks down into about 12 different regions. Some of them are only spoken, not written, so one of the biggest challenges is trying to identify the communities, where they come from in the region, and what kind of dialect they speak, in order to address their needs.
Liberal
Salma Zahid Liberal Scarborough Centre, ON
Mr. Khoudeida, you mentioned there are about 10 qualified interpreters in London. Are they from the same dialect, or are they different?
As an Individual
They are from the Kermanji. Most of them are Yazidis, and they are all from the same dialect.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant
Can I just clarify the qualification process for interpreters? You used the word “qualified”, and I'm concerned about that word, because we are dealing with highly specialized issues of terminology and mental health. What is the test that is done to qualify as an interpreter?
As an Individual
We have a program at the London Cross Cultural Learner Centre. They take a program there. They train them specially for these cases in which confidentiality is the biggest thing, on what to say and what not to say. They go through that course and learn what they need to say.
Executive Director, Interpretation Services, Cultural Interpretation Services for Our Communities
From our point of view, we begin by ensuring that they are fluent in the languages they need to interpret. That would be the first step. Second, we need to focus on the protocols that are followed in the community. Last, we also train in terminology, especially for the medical environment. We don't get involved in their specifics, because that is for the experts. We only provide the linguistics.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant
Would you agree that there's a difference between being bilingual and being an interpreter?
Executive Director, Interpretation Services, Cultural Interpretation Services for Our Communities
Yes.