Calgary Catholic Immigration Society welcomes migrant seniors with pilot program

Seniors face many challenges when moving to a new country, and there are a variety of agencies that help them when they arrive.

The Calgary Catholic Immigration Society (CCIS) has launched a groundbreaking three-year pilot project aimed at improving the quality of life of immigrant seniors in Calgary and improving the integration process.

It’s hoped the project, called the Calgary Seniors Ethnocultural Network (CSEN), will bring together immigrant senior groups from across Calgary

“It’s a collaboration of bringing all these newcomers together to form a stronger network within the Calgary community,” said Ricardo Morales, CCIS director of community development and integration services & southern Alberta rural settlement projects.

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“To better be able to support and provide seniors with a plethora of different activities and services that are going to enhance their lifestyle.”

CSEN will deal with issues of social isolation, language barriers, financial difficulties, elder abuse, digital literacy, cultural and generational differences and well as accessibility to services.

The collaborative pilot project will see CCIS work closely with 13 partner associations.

“The impact of COVID showed us the need to support seniors,” Morales said. “They were the most vulnerable sector for a population, hence now when we take a look at emerging seniors or emerging ethno-cultural seniors coming into Calgary, coming to us for support, we thought the best way we could do this is to formalize this into a network.”

CCIS says the partnerships will focus on sharing resources and opportunities, promoting awareness of each other’s work, collaborating on projects, workshops and presentations, co-applying for grants, advocating for understanding and inclusion and meeting regularly to discuss observations and proactively support immigrant seniors’ well-being.

“We’re trying to address this issue of social isolation, and I believe that with this network we can do more, especially if we help each other,” said Sherrisa Celis, CCIS immigrant senior services manager.

“So (we thought) why don’t we just built this network so we can support more organizations, and more seniors will benefit from it, because if you have the money, then you can do more activities and seniors will be happier.”

CCIS says by addressing the specific needs of ethnocultural seniors, it aims to build bridges of friendship, develop self-esteem and foster a sense of belonging.

Organizers of the network will monitor how it works for the next three years with a hope of expanding out to rural communities one day.