Citizenship Judge Ann Wilson with Scout Troup, 1997
A Romanian student who welcomes Syrian migrants into his home; two Danish friends who sail refugees safely to Sweden; a French woman who lets migrants charge their cellphones in her garage – these are a few of the stories of kindness in response to the chaos of the current unprecedented flow of people into Europe.
Ann Wilson wants us to consider kindness in our own response. She knows that when people of good will decide to take action, it can lead to a powerful synergy that changes the course of history. She knows because she’s lived it.
Wilson is well acquainted with the immigrant experience, as an immigrant to Canada herself. Born in Panama, she has lived and worked in 11 different countries. Wilson was Executive Director of Calgary Catholic Immigration Society from the time of its beginnings in 1981 until 1993. She then served as a Canadian Citizenship Judge for five years, travelling throughout Western Canada in the course of her duties. Now president and owner of Wilson International Network: Immigration Corp., she is also a certified Spiritual Director and the proud mother of five children and 9 grandchildren.
It is during the first few days of September 2015 that the world sees a photo of a small child, about three years old, lying face down on the shores of Turkey. Alan Kurdi drowned along with his mother and brother, due, in part, to fraudulent life jackets sold to people fleeing from horrific living conditions in Syria.
As I have learned in the past 17 years as an Immigration Consultant, especially doing Appeals in the Immigration Appeal Division, every person who applies to live in Canada has a unique story to tell. On the surface their story may seem simple, but a cursory look never reveals the depth and trauma of life experiences. The photo of little Alan Kurdi caused many to reflect deeply on this.
My own life experiences have had their share of trauma. I have been caught in the middle of two revolutions, one in former East Pakistan in 1971, and the second in Ethiopia from 1974 to 1977. Less than a month after our family arrived in Ethiopia, King Haile Selassie was deposed and imprisoned until his death in 1975. On the evening that the East Pakistan revolution began, I remember vividly what it felt like to be separated from my children, trapped in a different area of the city. Along with other foreigners, we had a driver to help us make our way to our children and our homes, but we stopped to pick up bleeding people in a ditch and transport them to a medical clinic. I remember that night, staying up listening to screams, rifle shots and tank fire. We lived in constant fear for the safety of our friends and ourselves. I remember going to the store to get food for my family, not wanting to look at the bodies of the dead lying in the sun.
By 1981 we were safely living in Canada, and I heard about a job opening at a new organization called Calgary Catholic Immigration Society (CCIS). No Canadian seemed to want the job, as the pay was low, but for me it was the opportunity of a lifetime. I was blessed to be able to work alongside Margaret Chisholm, one of the founders of CCIS. She was a remarkable person with a never-ending passion and compassion to assist refugees and immigrants coming to Canada. I would not be here today if it were not for people like Margaret and many others, who supported, respected, assisted and loved me at that time.
Refugee children at CCIS Daycare, 1987
Margaret and I and our staff helped to resettle about 1000 refugees a month, though in the early 1980s the numbers were often higher than that. (And that was just in Calgary!) Refugees poured into Calgary from many countries, including Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Poland, Romania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Central America, Iran and Ethiopia, to name a few. By 1993 we had 100 staff working at CCIS, most of them immigrants themselves. We based our programs on needs identified by our own staff members from their experiences as newcomers to Canada, and with input by the people we were serving. We also had excellent volunteers throughout the city, and many refugees upon arrival turned to help others flooding into Calgary. Our spirits and energy were high, fuelled by a love for the work we were doing. We were busy day and night, helping in areas such as emergency shelter for destitute refugees, health needs, childcare, employment counselling, English classes, providing housing, food, clothing, furniture and household goods. Money came from a federal program for Government Supported Refugees, with matching dollars from the Catholic Diocese of Calgary and other donations. The Alberta government had a great program to support NGOs helping to settle refugees. I remember on weekends driving a little blue pickup truck all around the city, collecting donations and delivering them to the new arrivals. I even learned how to jump-start the truck!
It was music to my ears to receive an email last week from a woman asking how her Book Club could learn about sponsoring a family of Syrian refugees. That’s how it starts – people reaching out and taking that first step. I recently read Mike Molloy’s comments about his experience as a civil servant in 1979, tasked with the job of bringing 60,0000 refugees to Canada after the Vietnam War. Private citizens sponsored more than half of them. To quote Molloy, “It’s time to do the right thing again.” I couldn’t agree more. My Christian faith tells me to ask for God’s grace to help me love my neighbour as myself…and to understand that, on this small blue planet of ours, we are all neighbours.
(All photos courtesy Ann Wilson)
