The pandemic meant that everyone had to move services online. For New Canadians, that move was probably easier than many. Already adept at online content sharing, as well as an OMNI TV show that's run for a number of years, it made sense that they would create something like Café New Canadians, a virtual event series.
Each episode focuses on conversations related to immigration, settlement, employment, education, small businesses, and related topics. The audience is broad, ranging from potential immigrants to Canada, refugees, international students, and new Canadians anywhere on their settlement journey.
Broadcast on Zoom, as well as on YouTube, their channel has dozens of useful videos, generally providing a subject matter as well as newcomer perspective. There is tremendous value here for newcomers. They've made the conversations public, accessible, and the Cafe has continued for over a year.
Frontline workers can use these videos to share with your clients, to complement your own services, webinars, and content. They're a rich repository for you to use and share.
The other thing to learn from this Good Idea is that immigrant and refugee-serving organizations should be doing the same thing. Over the past year, during the pandemic, you've all been offering webinars, Facebook Live sessions, etc., and they're all likely recorded and stored away somewhere, probably less accessible than they could be. Don't hide your amazing content and useful information, share it widely, is another lesson from this Good Idea!
Below are just a few examples:
