Journaling a Community – Mehreen Shahid

An immigrant of Pakistan, Mehreen Shahid moved to Orillia in 2015 after graduating from Sheridan College with a diploma in Print Journalism. With her family wanting her to stay close to home (Mississauga), she took a job opportunity with the Orillia Packet and Times.

Photograph of two young girls reading The Packet and Times, Orillia’s longest-running news publication.

Though her first impression of Orillia wasn’t the greatest, she quickly came to realize that things weren’t as bad as she thought they were going to be.

Mehreen Shahid – First Impressions (captions available in both FR and EN). Enjoy this video with a transcript (En).

For Shahid, her ethnicity never made a difference, it actually helped her engage with more people – they were curious and always wanted to know more about where she was from. Thanks to lots of practice reading books out loud and watching television, she was able to latch onto accents and talk like everybody else around her, and believes her lack of an accent has helped her to connect better.

Mehreen Shahid – Ethnicity (captions available in both FR and EN). Enjoy this video with a transcript (En).

The Packet & Times also connected her to some fascinating stories, like the fall fair’s demolition derby, seeing a marine railway at Big Chute for the first time, and how snow removal in the downtown core is a major concern. But, what matters most to people here is what the city council is doing to develop and sustain the area.

Mehreen Shahid – Issues in Orillia (captions available in both FR and EN). Enjoy this video with a transcript (En).

Orillians are very supportive, generous, and enthusiastic, making for a vibrant community, especially during summer. Shahid’s biggest takeaway, everyone wants to support local and realizes we all rely on each other for support. It’s what makes a city, a city.

Mehreen Shahid – Change in Orillia (captions available in both FR and EN). Enjoy this video with a transcript (En).

Orillia is a calmer, quieter, more peaceful community
and the people are extremely nice.