Welcoming Syrian Refugees to Sarnia

Our panel discussion on Thursday, which focused on Welcoming Syrian Refugees to Sarnia, was interesting and memorable. Many community members braved the cold and snow to join us.

Lambton College graduate and former refugee William Moshe shared his story of arrival
 in Canada. Roxanne Gilroy-Machado, of the YMCA Newcomer Services, described the
services offered to new arrivals and the many challenges of culture shock.
Photo credit: Barbara Simpson

Thank you to our presenters: William Moshe, Roxanne Gilroy-Machado, Emily Fortney-Blunt, Art deGroot, and Nikki McVitti. The stories and information that you shared helped us all to realize our connections to the issue.

Thank you to Barbara Simpson from the Observer for the story on the event:
http://www.theobserver.ca/2016/02/25/lambton-college-hosts-panel-discussion-on-welcoming-syrians-to-sarnia-lambton

To learn more about how you can help, visit the 

Lambton Refugee Sponsorship Network

or find them on Facebook.

Welcoming Syrian Refugees to Sarnia

On Thursday, February 25, the Centre for Social Justice at Lambton College will hold an event called "Welcoming Syrian Refugees to Sarnia." We'll be joined by a panel of local experts, and we'll have the chance to learn and to ask questions. Here are some of the topics we hope to address:

• What services are offered to refugees in the Sarnia area?
• What challenges do newcomers face?
• What history does Sarnia have with welcoming immigrants and refugees?
• What plans are in place to help refugees arriving from Syria?
• How can we help newcomers to feel at home in our community?

The event is open to everyone, and we'd love to have you join us. We'll meet in A223 (in the South Building) from 11:30-1 on February 25. While this session won't provide all of the answers, we hope it will be the beginning of a conversation.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me: Erica.Kelly@lambtoncollege.ca

Sarnia Justice Film Festival

The next film in the Sarnia Justice Film Festival is The Clean Bin Project: Trying to Live a Waste-Free Life. It plays on Saturday, February 20 at 7pm.

This series runs at the Sarnia Library, and it's free of charge. 

Here's a brief description of the film: 

"Is it possible to live completely waste free? In this multi-award winning film partners Jen and Grant go head to head in a competition to see who can swear off consumerism and produce the least garbage.  Their light-hearted competition is set against a darker examination of the problem waste.  Even as Grant and Jen start to garner interest in their project, they struggle to find meaning in their minuscule influence on the large-scale environmental impacts of our “throw-away society”.  This film will prove to be a fun and inspiring call to individual action to deal with the waste we produce."

Dr. Kate Parizeau (Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Guelph) and Mary Jean O’Donnell (President of MJ Waste Solutions) will lead a conversation afterwards about waste in our everyday lives. 

The Sarnia Justice Film Festival has two more films scheduled after this one:

March 12- Oil and Water: A film about searching for a more just future for all people around the world born with oil beneath their feet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTeAAJgDNb4

April 23- Madina's Dream: A film about rebels and refugees fighting to survive in Sudan's Nuba Mountains https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_MD9gg2WRw

Follow the Film Festival on Twitter: @SarniaJusticeFF

Upcoming Conference

Sarnia's LGBTQ+ Youth Forum

On Wednesday, February 17, the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity (CCGSD) will hold a full-day conference around discussions of gender and sexual identity. Workshops feature such topics as language awareness, healthy relationships, two-spirited identity, feminism, and running a GSA. The conference takes place at Rebound. You can register here or by contacting Rebound at (519) 344-2841. 

Wednesday, February 17 2016, 8:00 AM - 3:30 PM [EST]

1457 London Road, Sarnia, Ontario, Canada

Unity in Diversity at Lambton College

Today, Lambton College's International Department created a wonderful fundraiser. 

For a $2 donation, members of our Lambton College community could add a pin to our world map to show us where they're from. Here's the finished result: a map that's increasingly full--a symbol of all we have to learn from one another.

The Unity in Diversity project, which encouraged all of us to add pins to the world map to demonstrate where we're from, raised more than $500 for the Students for Syria project at Lambton College. The results will be on display in our hallways in the future as a celebration of our increasing diversity.

Check back for further updates on what our amazing students are doing to support this cause. There's more to come!

Operation Groundswell: Backpacking with a Purpose

The Give and Take Project at Lambton College

Earlier this week, a group of Lambton College students worked with their professor, Lois Nantais, to bring to life the Give and Take project.

The Give-and-Take board, which stands beside the Tim Horton's lineup, is alive and well
after a full week! 

The idea of the project is simple: a board covered with bright sticky notes stands beside the Tim Horton's line. Each sticky represents $2 that someone has donated to keep the project alive. Anyone in line is encouraged to take a sticky note if they need it and to leave a sticky note if they can. A donation box at the top of the sign allows the notes to be replenished.

Each day, notes are taken, and more are added. And everyone who walks past the sign thinks about what it means to give to those around us and to exist as part of a community.

Thank you to Lois and to her students for bringing this project to Lambton and for encouraging all of us to think about generosity. I'm excited to see how long we can keep this project alive!