Immigrant services organization MOSAIC celebrates 50 years in Metro Vancouver

Immigrant services organization MOSAIC celebrates 50 years in Metro Vancouver

Anniversary walkathon in Burnaby celebrated the journey of thousands of immigrants and newcomers

Metro Vancouver organization MOSAIC celebrated 50 years of helping immigrants and newcomers settle in Canada with a walkathon at the Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, B.C., on Sunday.

First formed as the Multilingual Orientation Service Association for Immigrant Communities in 1976, the organization put on an event that saw hundreds of newcomers celebrate settlement milestones, and enjoy food trucks and live music.

Many of the MOSAIC employees and volunteers who set up the walkathon were helped by the organization themselves when they first arrived in Canada.

MOSAIC says it serves 33,000 immigrants, refugees and newcomers every year.

One of its employees, Daisy Au, said she needed to get her credentials from Hong Kong recognized in Canada when she arrived and faced many hurdles.

She's now part of MOSAIC's settlement team, having joined in 2003.

"I have a lot of single [moms] and also families," she said of her clients.

"My experience with that kind of challenge is really like I walk through the same journey ... with them. Yes. So that is very amazing."

The walkathon involved newcomers stamping a mock passport at tents commemorating goals like finding a place to live and finding their first job in Canada.

Sharon Butler, MOSAIC's director of strategic engagement, said the organization has helped around half a million people enter B.C. and Canada in the last 50 years.

She said that 80 per cent of the organization's workforce were, at one point, newcomers to Canada — and its over 600 employees speak more than 60 languages.

"Our whole name is about the mosaic of Canada, about the different people from different parts of the world, and all coming together to create something so very special," she said.

Butler said that there have been major government cutbacks to funding helping settlement organizations recently — but the demand was still increasing year after year.

The organization's headquarters are in Burnaby near Swangard Stadium, though they have locations across the Lower Mainland.

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Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley said that MOSAIC's work often goes unnoticed — especially for an organization whose work is often done by volunteers — and that the city recognizes how important it has been.

He said that 60 per cent of the city's population wasn't born in Burnaby, and Sunday's event reflected the community togetherness that holds the region together.

"To see them all out here together, you know, walking arm-in-arm and the arms around each other, having a good time, learning from each other's cultures, which is how our country progresses, really," he said.

"That's just tremendous value to see."