Calgary Catholic Immigration Society (CCIS) is nearly six months into a three-year pilot project designed to improve the quality of life and social integration of migrant seniors.

The non-profit organization’s new Calgary Seniors Ethnocultural Network (CSEN) is providing opportunities for elders of diverse backgrounds to socially connect and access resources to help their amalgamation into the southern Alberta metropolis.

CCIS is leading a collaborative effort with over 13 community partners, including the Calgary Iranian-Canadian Seniors Group, Calgary Korean Performing Arts Society, Calgary Latin American Seniors Association, Filipino Calgarian Seniors Club, Northeast Support Group (Chinese seniors) and Vietnamese Golden Age Club.   

Advertisement

Anita Chow, a collaborator with CCIS for nearly 20 years and the coordinator of the Northeast Support Group, said it is very easy for newcomers to become discouraged in their new Canadian surroundings, and thus there is a need for the CSEN.

“My group of seniors coming from mainland China do not know a word of English at all,” said Chow. “They came here because they have to take care of the grandchildren. When the grandchildren grow up, then they will feel useless at home and also quite lonely at home. I have one senior, a gentleman I met in Chinatown, who said, ‘I would like to (commit) suicide or I have to go back to mainland China. No point for me to stay here. I have no friends. I have no connection.’ ”

This elder’s happiness was boosted by participating in Chow’s Northeast Support Group where made new friends and is taking music classes.

Ideally, if all goes according to plan, the CSEN will help author many other welfare turnarounds over the 36-month duration of the pilot, and beyond. The cooperating associations will seek to regularly host multicultural celebrations, educational workshops (financial literacy, English classes, etc.), physical activities and additional events that foster mental health and social and cultural support.

Advertisement

“Primarily, we would like to enhance resources to support culturally appropriate, community-based initiatives, programs and services for seniors. CCIS, with an established seniors' program for over 20 years, would continue to provide leadership in planning and establishing priorities to meet the identified needs of seniors,” said Ricardo Morales, director of community development integration services at CCIS. “Through this collaboration, seniors in Calgary would be able to access a greater multitude of services, engage in a wider social circle and broaden their accessibility to other programs to meet their social, cultural, emotional well-being.”

Sherrisa Celis, program manager of immigrant seniors services at CCIS, told The Catholic Register that after many years of helping seniors’ organizations secure funding support, the CSEN represents a further formalization of these partnerships. She hopes to empower these various collaborators to directly seek relationships with each other.

“With this network that we are building now, I do hope that they will have the courage to approach each other directly and become friends just like what we've built between our agency and (each) particular organization,” said Celis. “I'd like them to be friends and consider themselves as one big family helping each other for the purpose of addressing social isolation of seniors or making more seniors happy living here in Calgary.”

Once these new bonds are developed, the organizations that have entered into a new direct partnership could conceivably apply for grants together, team up on advocacy campaigns, deliver joint presentations and workshops and meet to compare notes about what their respective teams are learning on the ground each day.

Celis and Chow “are excited” about the CSEN leadership training days scheduled for July 4 and 5. The former declared that these sessions will “strengthen the leaders of this network and expand and make sure that they are on the right path — they know that they've been doing good, but we want to make it great.”

While not officially listed as a collaborating group in the CSEN, Celis, a Catholic, envisioned the Diocese of Calgary, a champion and collaborator of CCIS since its 1982 inception, playing an important role in this endeavour, specifically with the mental health aspect.

Advertisement

“The Diocese of Calgary is also part of the (Alberta Elder Abuse Awareness Council), which I am a part of through CCIS. It will be easier for me to connect with their representative there if we need something, especially on the mental health part. I also know some staff at the pastoral centre and that they will be more than willing to help.”

Celis also acknowledged that many of the newcomers coming to Calgary are immigrant Catholics. CCIS and the diocese have joined forces on a Sponsorship of Refugees Program for decades.