Multicultural centre in Timmins changes its name

The Northeastern Ontario Multicultural Centre is the new name of the former Timmins Multicultural Centre, which officially launched on Friday.

The Northeastern Ontario Multicultural Centre, is the new name of the former Timmins Multicultural Centre.

“We decided that we would change the name to better reflect the scope of where we serve,” said Deborah Robertson, the centre’s executive director.

“We also have itinerant services in Kirkland Lake, Parry Sound and Temiskaming Shores, so we felt that it better reflected the area that we have services.”

The centre has also moved downtown into the El Mar Building. Anyone born outside of Canada is welcome to drop in to inquire about services.

“We support people one-on-one, family units, we have a service specific to school-age children -- the Settlement Worker in Schools Program, as well, which is relatively new for us here in Timmins,” Robertson said.

“We organize group events. We can help orient immigrants to the area and refer them to services to help support their settlement journey.”

Even though there are fewer foreign students studying in northeastern Ontario, she said the agency as a whole sees around 300 newcomers a year and the number is steadily climbing.

“Not everyone accesses our services, so I think the number is much larger than we’re aware of,” said Robertson.

The Timmins Local Immigration Partnership – or LIP – is housed in the same office. LIP works to strengthen a community’s capacity to welcome newcomers and improve their integration into communities.

“Everyone has to be involved, not just the newcomers, but, you know, the residents and everyone,” said Chinelo Nnoli.

“So currently we’ve sent out our surveys and we are collecting feedback from everyone … this feedback will help us understand what the current needs are and the most pressing needs.”

Nnoli said the information will be included in LIP’s next three-year strategic plan.