KLMG Events and Activities Helping Newcomers

Sandra Reygada Licuime explains how the Kirkland Lake Multicultural Group helps guide newcomers to find the services they need in their new home community. World Chats and potluck suppers are ways members share their own culture with each other and the wider Kirkland Lake community.

Sandra is sitting in front of the Kirkland Lake Multicultural Group sign, facing the camera.

Helping Newcomers in KL

[Sandra] This moment with the Covid is very hard but we start. We can keep it, we hope, to try to support the people with it, try to find place to stay, try to English as a second language, or French. Try to guide them to feel welcome.

Sometime coming they don’t have a babysitter so feel confident to met the group, met the people. What is the other – to citizenship and some find job just we send to the place that they can Job Connect. Just guide, you know, it’s something that you have some friend, you have somebody it can guide you.

Because this you need when right in new, new country, I don’t know. You can support have your family beside but it’s different when there’s somebody else help you, so we try.

World Chat

At World Chat we try to open every Wednesday for people coming in join our group have more knowledge about what we doing. Even we try to open in the afternoon to people working, but I think is little hard now with the situation, people coming in.

But we try to talk in experience your country, how you feel here, maybe come in idea for food recipes, or my children study with your children, we support each other, so it make a more friend? What is the – friend, sorry – to do more friendly, you know. It’s the World Chat. It’s just to connection.

Potluck Supper

I feel so proud with the potluck and the, and the food, really we have so connection with the food. Connection, I think we feel so proud because I really open my mind enjoy the spice of other countries, food.

It’s incredible around the table, to enjoy it, you know. It’s all family, the table, in the kitchen is the best place to start. So we feel so proud to do this event with food.

[Interviewer] And these are done through the Legion?

[Sandra] Yes, we do it sometime in the Legion, try to encourage other friends from other countries to share their recipe. We try to cook, guide from them but yeah, this is what we feel so proud to do it.