SAINT JOHN, N.B. -- On Saturday, University of New Brunswick hosted students and newcomers to the province who got acquainted at an event called Saturday Super Social.
Hosted in partnership by Saint John Newcomers Centre and Future Ready NB, the event offers post-secondary students an opportunity to help families navigating their new life in the province.
"The new face of New Brunswick is going to be a multicultural environment from people from all over the world," says Saint John Newcomers Centre managing director, Mohamed Bagha, stressing the importance of engaging the community's newest members.
Featuring craft-making, food and drinks, the event serves as a chance to form new connections.
"I wanted to do this kind of thing because I'm originally from Syria, and I know exactly how it feels for the people here and how happy they get all together," says University of New Brunswick student, Fares Meini. "It's a feeling of, really, joy."
Approximately 30 students from the University of New Brunswick, St. Thomas University, Mount Allison University, and the Université de Moncton, underwent two-hours of cultural competency training before the event.
"Students are definitely going to be the future leaders, and they will have to understand there's not only interacting with newcomers in Saint John, [it's] they're also going to have newcomers as workmates," says Saint John Newcomers Centre newcomer settlement advisor, William Tarr.
And attendees agree.
"Newcomers have a lot of needs," says event attendee, Coco Du. "They need to be familiar with the local food, multicultural food, and be familiar with the facilities here."
Meanwhile, event organizers say events like Saturday Super Social are going to become increasingly important in the coming years as New Brunswick experiences a cultural shift.
"We need to create environments like these so that students, the people of our future workforce, can experience the new face that New Brunswick is becoming," says Bagha.
