A mentoring scheme to help young Somali-Canadians settle in Canada is being supported by Canadian immigration.
Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister, Jason Kenney revealed the plans to invest some CA$473,640 in the groundbreaking scheme, which is intended to promote integration and encourage leadership skills among young people on Canadian visas.
The project will bring together young Somali-Canadians with older Jewish-Canadian mentors in an attempt to improve cross-cultural understanding and respect.
Kenney says, “the project is the first of its kind in Canada… it brings together leaders from a well-established community with the future leaders of a community that is striving for a more complete inclusion in Canadian society.â€
The two-year project is being organised by the Canadian International Peace Project and is intended to be the first of many cross-cultural mentoring programmes. It CEO says, “the Somali-Jewish Canadian Mentorship Project brings two very different and diverse groups together to work towards building stronger communities.â€
The plan is to establish 130 mentoring partnerships for young people aged between 18 and 25 years-old from the Somali-Canadian community who have Canadian visas or were born in Canada.
