Community shows warm reception to newcomer centres
A peaceful rally was held Nov. 17 at the Ben Franklin Place plaza in Centrepointe in solidarity with local refugee and asylum-seeking communities.
The City of Ottawa has proposed two newcomer reception centres, with the first and primary location being constructed at 1645 Woodroffe Ave., adjacent to the Nepean Sportsplex. A second centre may be located at 40 Hearst Way, beside the Eagleson Park and Ride transit station.
Both reception centres will have a combined total occupancy of 300 people, who will be granted stay for up to 90 days before finding long-term housing.
Before the rally began, volunteers with Refugee 613 organized information booths and distributed tea and coffee.
The rally was organized by Louisa Taylor, executive director of Refugee 613 and Camille Kamanzi, who provided a French translation. The event started with Taylor and Kamanzi delivering a land acknowledgement and powerful opening words.
“It’s not typical for community organizations to be cheering for the city. But in this case, the city is actually making a thoughtful, innovative, brave choice to really stand by our welcoming values and invest in a system where there is none,” said Taylor.
Taylor and Kamanzi finished their opening by leading a chant, which continued sportily throughout the rally.
Liv Bolton, a Rabbi from Nepean, spoke in support of refugees and newcomer reception centres. This was then followed by Bolton leading attendees in chant.
“I am a Rabbi, I am a queer woman, I am a mother. Most of all, I am human,” said Bolton. “Canada’s pride is everlasting like a tree. The borders don’t matter to the root of the tree.”
In between speeches, live dance performances were performed by members of RJM-CW Dance Team, formed by a local youth group of current and former refugees.
Thomas Ndayiragije spoke about his experience being a refugee in Ottawa.
“If you are wondering who is a refugee and who is an asylum seeker, you have one before you,” said Ndayiragije. “I hope I’m not intimidating. I respond to love and I respond to smiles.”
Ndayiragije, a former refugee from Burundi who arrived in Ottawa in 2018, said he was persecuted back in Burundi.
“I had to flee. The only crime I committed was standing up for human rights,” said Ndayiragije.
Mark Sutcliffe, mayor of Ottawa, was also invited as a guest speaker at the rally. Sutcliffe told a story about his family coming to Canada after fleeing the Chinese civil war, and he provided words of encouragement to rally participants and refugees.
“Everyone who’s been involved in building our community are either Indigenous, an immigrant or a descendant of immigrants. That’s it. That’s all of us,” said Sutcliffe. “I love this city, I truly love this city. We are so lucky to live in Ottawa.”
Sean Devine, city counsellor of Ward 9, attended the rally with his wife Margaret Devine. Both said they support the development.
“I am here today just like you. I support refugees. I have seen a very different side of humanity over the last couple weeks. I’m very grateful to see the other side here today,” said Devine.
As the rally drew to a close, Taylor and Kamanzi thanked attendees for their unwavering support, emphasizing that their presence sent a powerful message of solidarity to Ottawa’s refugee communities.
