That was one of the notions discussed at a roundtable on business and immigration in Corner Brook Wednesday morning.
Hosted at Taste of Jamaica, a business started by Jamaican immigrant Kirk Myers, the discussion was jointly organized by the Greater Corner Brook Board of Trade and the Association for New Canadians.
Attended by about 20 people, it was the seventh in a series of eight roundtables being held by the Association for New Canadians across Newfoundland and Labrador.
Besides learning all of the rules and regulations of operating a business in Canada as an immigrant, Myers said his biggest challenge was learning about the local culture and the best way to market his business to the people of Corner Brook.
“There were a vast number of challenges, but we were resourceful and in the latter end we started getting assistance and meeting more people to give us the right direction to accomplish what we have done,” he said.
Justin Campbell, diversity outreach co-ordinator with the Association for New Canadians, said a recurrent theme of the roundtable discussions has been how communities deal with the lack of a formal network that connects immigrants to their new communities and vice versa.
Developing these social networks, even informally, would help realize the value immigrants can bring to a community, he said.
“We need to create spaces where we can share our cultural differences and learn about people from different backgrounds,” said Campbell. “One of the understated values of immigration is that it creates these spaces for cross-cultural dialogues.”
On that note, Sheldon Peddle, president of the Greater Corner Brook Board of Trade, said the organization has applied for funding to hopefully create a position for someone whose job would be to better connect immigrants to the Corner Brook area.
The roundtable discussion series wraps up in St. John’s Thursday.
