Huron County will be celebrating its fourth Welcoming Week starting September 12, to help newcomers feel a sense of community in their latest home.
The week runs from September 12 to 22 and features events that celebrate all the people, places and values that make up Huron County.
Mark Nonkes, Immigration Partnership Manager, says its an annual effort to help everyone feel welcome.
"Huron County is always better when more people are moving to it, they're sharing their gifts and getting involved in the community," he said. "Certainly, we want to say 'Welcome, you belong here, no matter where you're from. You're an important part of our community and we want you to get involved.'"
One way to get involved is to attend events, like a film screening at the Huron County Museum on September 19 at 6:30 p.m. They will be showing the movie Ru, about a Vietnamese refugee family who moves to Quebec’s countryside in the 1980s.
Following that Nonkes says there will be a panel discussion about the experience of a local who moved here as refugee during that time.
"It gives us a chance to reflect on what we did in the past and how things are different now. Also from a refugee point of view, how has there lives shifted over 40 years?" he said. "We rarely get a chance to look long-term and say 'What's your life been like?' So we're excited that one of the panelists (Suvany Pravong) is somebody from Laos who moved here as a refugee."
All Welcoming Week events are free to attend, but people are encouraged to sign up for the screening as seating is limited.
There is also a cooking demonstration hosted by The Goderich Community Garden on September 14 and a job fair in Wingham on September 18.
Finally, there will be meet your neighbours events in Brussels, Seaforth, Wingham and Clinton. Nonkes says they've been a great way for newcomers to learn more about their new home.
"Last year in Brussels, we had 50 people show up at their little library and representations from every community organization in town, some informal organizations and people just saying 'welcome, we're glad you're here. Why don't you join us?'" he said. "It's so great to have those kind of events and we're excited to see them unfold throughout the rest of September."
Meet your neighbour events will run at the Brussels Library Sept 12 at 7 p.m., the Wingham Library Sept. 14 at 2:30 p.m., the Clinton Library Sept. 17 at 6:30 p.m. and the Seaforth Library Sept. 18 at 7 p.m.
To learn more about Welcoming Week, visit the county's website.
