Changing Together - A Centre for Immigrant Women Association

How does Josephine Pallard, director of Changing Together, a Centre for Immigrant Women, describe the organization's mission? "It's citizenship put into action. We tell our clients, 'You're in Canada. How will you prosper? You're here to make a contribution, not to ask or to beg.'"

Changing Together has been serving Edmonton area immigrant women since 1984. Josephine Pallard has been a part of the organization since the beginning. Josephine herself is an immigrant, having come to Canada as a student from Philippines in 1967. "I didn't even know where to buy rice. I ate nothing but ground beef for the first month." The cultural barriers that greeted her inspired her to help others, and eventually to join the network of women who created Changing Together.

The barriers are many. Besides the obvious ones such as language, culture and the weather, there may be, for example, an ignorance of human rights in the Canadian context. "A woman may not know that in Canada she has the right to leave the house without her husband's permission."

The aim is not to avoid challenges or try to make them disappear, but to engage women in activities and programs that will help make them more assertive, more self-sufficient and more resilient.

Changing Together offers no shortage of programs. There are English language classes, bi-cultural parenting classes and workshops, an employment mentorship program, citizenship classes, family violence prevention workshops, computer classes and more.

Perhaps the most innovative is Ajoka Theatre, an issues-based form of theatre of Pakistani origin that dramatizes problems to help people discover their own experiences and find solutions. Roles are acted by high school students, many of them children of immigrants. Clients are involved in the development of productions. They sometimes even appear on stage, "If they're brave enough" laughs Josephine.

The Community Spirit Program does its part to make this rich variety of programs possible by helping pay the bills: "Namely, 40 per cent on space rental, which has sky-rocketed in the last year, 30 per cent for administrative salaries, 20 per cent for office equipment - photocopier, computers, server, etc. - and 10 per cent for resources such as software and paper supplies." As with every organization that benefits, Josephine and her team are thankful that they can decide where the money needs to go.

Of her organization's main desire, Josephine says "We want awareness." One major misconception about her organization is that it works for a small niche of specialized clients. She points out that, as of 2006, there are more than 143,000 immigrants in Edmonton, 52 per cent of whom are women. "We work for mainstream society. These immigrant women become our future population."

Awareness of human trafficking is something that Changing Together achieved in Edmonton when no one else realized it was happening. "It's generally for cheap labour," says Josephine, and indeed the case that Changing Together brought to public attention involved a restaurant worker who was being treated almost as a slave.

What is Josephine most proud of? "Our collaboration with the Edmonton Women's Shelter. They gave us a house specifically for the use of immigrant women in need. Trafficked women, too. The language barrier can make immigrant women feel very isolated in a shelter. By having a house where English is a second language for everyone, it puts everyone at the same level. Also, they can prepare traditional food there. It makes a woman less likely to go back to a bad situation."

As far as big dreams go, Josephine and her team have not been resting on their laurels. "A four to five-storey building would be great. The main floor would be classrooms, the second floor a spiritual place for faith activities and healing, next floor we could have a nurse, a counsellor and a doctor's office. The top floor could be a women's shelter. The idea is not to create an exclusive place, a silo, but to concentrate services. We could save so many women."

Changing Together is located in Edmonton. Visit them online at http://www.changingtogether.com/.

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