Q&A: The Cross Cultural Learner Centre has been helping new Canadians for 55 years

The London Cross Cultural Learner Centre (CCLC) opened its doors in 1968 and has since become an institution. During those 55 years, the centre has welcomed thousands of new immigrants to the city.

The centre provides a variety of essential services for newcomers, including medical screening services, employment assistance and childcare.

The organization is looking to expand with plans for a new affordable housing project that will provide vital spaces for new immigrants in today's tight housing market.

CBCLondon Morningguest host Matt Allen took a tour of the Dundas Street facility with CCLC's Executive Director Valerian Marochko to see some of the spaces and find out why settlement services are so critical.

The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Matt Allen: What is the importance of the reception centre at the CCLC?

Valerian Marochko: The refugees that are resettled in Canada through the resettlement assistance program of the federal government would arrive and spend about five weeks on average at the reception centre.

It used to be about three weeks but because of the difficulty finding permanent housing, they would spend about five weeks on average in temporary accommodation. We provide the linen on their beds and we put their names on the door so they know which room is theirs. When they move to their permanent accommodation, they can take the linen with them. We have laundry where we wash the linen, and also during their stay, we have an additional house orientation. If they arrive at 2:00 a.m. from Pearson International Airport, there are staff who will welcome them and ensure that they know everything about the safety in the residence.

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MA: You mentioned linen. There's Irish Spring here also, there is a toothbrush, you know, just the basics of life that you take for granted.

VM: Exactly. The basics of life and we also have to teach them some skills to use the appliances. And when we move people out to the new apartments, we have a program to teach them life skills like how to prepare lunch for their children who go to school, how to take children to school, where to do grocery shopping, everything. But it starts with the basic needs, as you said.

MA: There is also a dining room here. Could you describe what happens in this space?

VM: Each family receives as much as possible according to their ethnic preferences.

We have been cooking food, and more recently, we also have been using catered food from ethnic restaurants.

MA: Have you had any requests that you weren't prepared for and that you had to adjust to quickly?

VM: We review the menu on a weekly basis as well as the supplies so we ensure we have, you know, take into account the preferences of our clients as much as we can?

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MA: There is a clinic space as well. What happens there?

VM: In the reception centre we also have a newcomer clinic that we operate in collaboration with London Inter Community Health Centre. We also collaborate with the School of Medicine and Dentistry to help newcomers who come to London. They are screened and their needs are assessed by doctors who know about tropical medicine or about the newcomer's needs and we ensure that everything is followed up on. If there is a need for the newcomers to go to a lab or if there is a referral to a specialist, we would accompany them and ensure that there are interpreters for all their medical needs.

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Many newcomers who arrived in Canada, they're healthier than the general population. But among the refugees and other newcomers, we also have cases and medical care needs, like pregnant women or we would receive a notification about a need to see a specialist prior to an arrival.

MA: How do you feel when you see - and you would have seen the entire process from first arriving to getting comfortable to some of the ups and downs and then finally they're able to become Canadian citizens - what does that feel like for you, getting to see that?

VM: It's a great feeling and it's related to restoring people's dignity because when people move to another country, they may lose their citizenship. Some people are stateless because governments in some countries decided that those people cannot remain citizens like the Rohingyas in Myanmar. So in that case we are actually restoring the dignity of being a citizen.

And a citizen of Canada is a great citizenship and it's a great culture to be in, and newcomers are grateful for what Canada has been doing over the years and we are grateful to see so much support from the community.