Calgary newcomers gather for first Christmas party in Canada

Children singing and receiving a gift from Santa in Calgary, it’s what holiday parties are made of.

Adults are participating too, whether by reading a story or singing to the crowd.

Gingerbread house making is a first-time experience as these Canadian newcomers take part in Canadian Christmas traditions in Calgary.

Those in attendance are taking language instruction classes for Canadian newcomers through the Immigrant Education Society. Eighty-seven classes are run with about 1,200 students in three locations.

“In our program, we have people from all over the world, so we serve more than 87 countries and everybody who is here today is celebrating Christmas with us because it’s their first winter in Canada,” said Jana Ciobanu, program senior manager with the Immigrant Education Society.

“Because we want to welcome them, we want to teach them new traditions and new habits. Something that Canadians do,”

Laurence Tuquza came to Canada from the Republic of the Congo as a refugee with her family in June 2022. Her first language is Kinyarwanda, which is spoken in several countries in Africa including Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda.

She says the classes have helped her make new friends.

“To learn English, it is helping me because it helps me to read and write,” Tuquza explained.

Hamza Ali has been taking classes for eight months and he says his English has improved 100 percent since being enrolled in the program.

“Actually, it has helped me a lot to communicate with people here and to know the customs of Canadians and the society in Canada,” Ali said.

Speaking at the party, he says it’s great to see the engagement and community.

“It’s cool. I see people there celebrating [at] the centre. Baby gets gifts and these things and that’s very cool,” said Hamza Ali.

President and CEO of the society Sally Zhao says the language instruction program funded by the federal government has more than 1,400 students on the waitlist, waiting 6 months to get into a class.

“Now with the war between Ukraine and Russia and also other things going on in the world, this is a very long waiting list and waiting for too long time, I personally think,” Zhao explained. “Because without getting into any classes our students are losing their language even, if they don’t practice.”

As Zhao wishes they had more resources to accommodate more newcomers into the English language classes, it is also a time to celebrate the successes of the individuals who are currently enrolled.

“And for our students, they either have improved their language benchmarks or they have secured employment or they have increased their confidence in connecting with people in their network or connecting with people outside their network in the community,” Zhao said.