Our home is here: Fredericton's immigrant stories inspire a more diverse community

Bianca Prajescuhas a story to tell.

And she's sharingit as part of Our Home is Here: A Community Conversation, put on by the Promise of Home, a research-based project that helps newcomers share whether Fredericton feels like home to them.

Prajescusaidthat when her family immigrated to Canada from Romania, she had to deal with bullies because she could not speak in fluent Englishtell her teachers what was going on.

"There was miscommunication and my teacher thought that I was the one bullying a kid in my class. And I was really frustrated," she said.

She had to learn to fight for herself at a young age, she said, while trying to be accepted and make friends.

WATCH | A newcomer deals with bullies and a language barrier:

From Romania to Woodstock, N.B.: Bianca Prajescu shares her story

12 months ago

Duration 1:20

When Bianca Prajescu moved to small town New Brunswick from Romania, the language barrier made the transition to a new school, in a new country, difficult.

Gl alkan, lead researcher of the project and a sociology professor at St. Thomas University in Fredericton,saidthe groupaimsto address issues around education, health, settlement, workplace experiencesand discrimination, by inviting participants tofocus on newcomer stories.

"The goal is to take these stories to the community and have reflections on what we learn from the stories," said alkan.

Some of the policy-related suggestions that emerged from the event includeimproving city transit services, including adding Sunday service, improving the availability of housingin safe areas with good transit or walkability scores and improvingthe visibility of immigration services online.

SophieLavoie, who is also on the research team,saidstorytelling is an essential aspect of their workbecause decisions are made top-down, andmany government decisions don't reflect the lived experiences of newcomers.

"It's such an important project for our communitybecause it aims to increase the diversity in the province," said Lavoie.

Participants were allowed to view the collected stories at the gathering and share their thoughts, experiences, and recommendations.

People such as Green Party Leader David Coon and Coun.Eric Megarityattended the event, along with stakeholders from Ignite Fredericton, Public Health, the Capital Region Integration Network and other groups.

Home is shared hospitality

Deborah van den Hoonaard, a St. Thomas University sociology faculty member who participated in the research, defines home as somewhere she can offer hospitalityand people will accept it.

"In Fredericton, when you come from somewhere else, people don't invite you to their home and they often don't accept your invitation," she said.

WATCH | What is home? 'Somewhere where we can offer hospitality and we can accept it':

Finding community in Fredericton as a newcomer back in 1979

12 months ago

Duration 0:56

Deborah van den Hoonaard shares her story of moving to Fredericton with two young children.

"I don't think they're unfriendly on purpose. I think they really don't know how."

Born and raised in New York, van den Hoonaard and her husband, Will, moved to Fredericton in September 1979. The family had a tough time transitioning into their new community, she said.

She did not immediately feel at home until she built relationships with people from the Baha'i communityand others who were looking to be seen and accepted in the community.

Van den Hoonaard saidthe most challenging thing during their transitioning stage was the discrimination against people for their race or religious belief.

"People who are from here, whose families are always from here, they don't see you if they don't know who your father is," she said.

"We were lucky because we had English already, and we didn't look that different."

WATCH | 'When we share our stories of hope and making home, we are connected':

Gl alkan hopes sharing newcomer stories will create a more inclusive city

12 months ago

Duration 1:10

As the lead researcher of the Our Home is Here project in Fredericton, Gl alkan is inviting the community to listen to newcomers stories.

She said Fredericton has been her home for 45 years now, and she hopes the community can create more opportunities within the school system where children from different backgrounds can work together.

alkan, says as the province continues to witness a significant increase in its immigrant population, she hopes they can get more funding to be able to carry out the project in other cities in New Brunswick.

As for Prajescu, she said she is grateful to have found people she connected with and hopes that conversations from the gathering can help create a community with no divide.

"I want people to realize that everyone deserves to be in a community where they can be treated with respect and not be pushed aside," she said.