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economist sunsuntribune celebrating diversity saturday june 28 2003 struggles hardships are nothing compared to opportunities immigrants say new canadians eager to join community by lisa queen staff writer sure there are struggles of course there are hardships but more lasting than the diffi culties and upsets along the way are the hopes and rewards of set tling in a new homeland where opportunities abound they say this is the land of milk and honey this is where they want to be phylis camposano said ms camposano and the families she hosts from around the world are the faces behind the statistics that show york region is emerging as one of the worlds most cultural ly diverse communities as the firstever volunteer host with catholic community services one ofyorks largest agen- cies serving immigrants of all reli gions and backgrounds ms camposano has been matched with nine families struggling to find their footing in a new com munity and a new country the filipino native who moved to canada in 1979 as a teenager was also a volunteer host with torontos culturelink agency for about three years before she joined the york organization over the years she has played host to families from yugoslavia iran korea russia and china all of them were professionals eager to find employment in their chosen fields ms camposano a prosecutor with the ministry of the attorney general at newmarkets tannery mall meets at least once a week for two hours with her assigned family to help them master english and learn canadian culture matches generally run for six months to a year depending on the level of support me family requires for ms camposano the people she helps become far more than just match es they are close friends to her sisters fauxconstemation ms camposano invites as many of her new friends as she can every christmas night to her siblings home to enjoy singing carols and other festive cheer she has been invited to attend some of their functions and has felt like a proud mother when they excel if theres a common theme among new immigrants it is a desire to learn english and become productive members of their communities they have this hunger to be fltient already said ms camposano a thornhill resident not one of them wanted to stay in the background they want to integrate they very much want to fit in to what our way of life is once theyve found their foot- they say this is the land of milk and honey this is where they want to be ing here they are keen to volun teer in their communities espe cially eager to help other newcom ers settle in they tell me theyve moved here for a better life for themselves and their children ms camposano added other than missing their fami lies i dont remember anyone wanting to go back to where they came from there are struggles in the beginning but when i look at them now i take such pride in seeing how far theyve come and how well they fit in people of every eth nic background are making york region their home according to york region statis tics more than 39 per cent of the regions residents are immigrants a regional report monitoring the status and health of york resi dents found recent immigrants have arrived here from 127 coun tries with the most common nations of last residence being china at 15 per cent india at 13 per cent iran at 7 per cent and pakistan at 6 per cent most newcomers are settling in the south part of the region markham and richmond hill had the largest growth in immigrant population from 1991 to 1996 in fact in this years census results statistics canada reported almost six in 10 markham resi dents are people of colour that makes markham second only to richmond bc as the mun icipality with the highest proportion of visible minorities in canada meanwhile italians lead the list of yorks five main ethnic ori gins comprising 141 per cent of the population chinese at 117 per cent are second followed by canadian at 81 per cent english at 67 per cent and east indian at 35 per cent interestingly the report stated about 83 per cent ofyorks residents spoke english most often at home in 2001 up from 80 per cent in 1996 wyn olivers chief executive officer of yorks united way said the regions fabric has been enriched by the contributions of newcomers when we at the united way of york region think about cultural diversity we think about building stunning kaleidoscopic commu nities she said i think were all the richer for it ms chivers said the agency is making every effort to reach out to the regions increasingly diverse population especiallyto the south asian and african caribbean com munities through its leading the ethnoracial access dialogue lead project passionate canadian teaches youth about roots by kathleen griffin staff writer cecil roach describes himself as a passionate canadian its the greatest country in the world said the markham resident arid middlefield collegiate institute principal but ihave also corrie to a fun damental understanding of myself as a person of african heritage we have a wonderful past a rich her itage that should be celebrated mr roach is determined to teach markham youth about their own cultural roots something he says they only see in bits and pieces a lot of kids are adrift cultural ly they only get snippets of what it riieans they grab parts of their culture from videos or their par- ents they define it by food or by events like caribaria they havent got the understanding of how they fit in canadian culture he said part of the issue around black youth is there is no palatable tran sition from childhood to adult hood many are not religious and they are drifting into manhood without that cultural foundation cecil roach a lot of kids havent got the understanding of how they fit into canadian culture there are no rights of passage for these kids his office is decorated with african art masks drums and goodluck charms he has posters of bob marley charlie parker and martin luther king hes deter mined to make a difference in the lives of his kids at middlefield and believes the school system and the community have to work together to provide support for teens serving the community has always been part of what i do good communities are the result of people getting involved he does his share mr roach is a member of york regions alliance of educators for black students which tries to ensure students get the benefit of all the educational opportunities the board offers he is also a member of the markharh african caribbean association and is involved in the organizations saturday school pro gram which provides students of african caribbean descent aca demic enrichment and tutorial sup port motivational coaching and cultural awareness its all about giving kids a grounding in who they are he explained its important to have a history so they can say people just like me have made important con tributions to canadian society born on the tiny caribbean island of monserrat mr roach arrived in canada at 13 three years after his parents thats typical of a lot of kids with caribbean parents they come to prepare the way it was a bit tough but i spent the time with my grandmother he recalled arriving in montreal in april he was startled to see his breath in the cold temperatures and struggled with the sheer size of his new city his immigrant experience however has given him a solid link to his students and other youth in the community working his way up from teacher to vice principal over the years mr roach was namedprin- cipal of markhams middlefield collegiate in 1994 he strives to ensure every student knows how important education is to their future mr roach also serves on the pblicecommunity liaison commit tee work he calls very important he advises police about their divert sity training and uses his school experience to suggest programs my message is everyone is capable of success whatever com munity you come from or lan guage deficiency you may be deal ing with there is still no 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