Member Story

This blog is the latest installment in N4’s Featured Member series, which highlights the diverse work and experiences of N4 members across Canada.

Dr. Rajesh Shukla is an Associate Professor at the School of Ethics, Social Justice and Public Service in the Faculty of Philosophy at Saint Paul University, in Ottawa, Ontario. Dr. Shukla was born and raised in India and came to Canada in September 1999, in the pursuit of his higher education and learning. Like many international students,...

This blog is the latest installment in N4’s Featured Member series, which highlights the diverse work and experiences of N4 members across Canada.

Dr. Josephine B. Etowa is a professor and Ontario HIV Treatment Network (OHTN) Chair in Black Women’s HIV Care and Prevention at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Nursing, an N4 member, and a former newcomer to Canada herself. Dr. Etowa began her career as a registered midwife and registered nurse in Nigeria,...

This blog is the latest installment in N4’s Featured Member series, which highlights the diverse work and experiences of N4 members across Canada.

Reem Ali is the first Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Officer for the City of Peterborough, Ontario, a student of the N4 and Saint-Paul University Online Program, and a member of N4. Reem brings to her role many years of experience as a community builder, both through academic and professional pursuits, as well as through her commitment...

This blog is the latest installment in N4’s Featured Member series, which highlights the diverse work and experiences of N4 members across Canada.

Astrid Velasquez is a Program Manager in Immigration and Settlement Services at Catholic Social Services (CSS) in Edmonton, Alberta, and currently on secondment to lead the newly opened New Canadians Health Centre, as well as an N4 member. Astrid also has lived experience as a newcomer, having immigrated to Edmonton nearly two decades ago from Colombia....

This blog is the latest installment in N4’s Featured Member series, which highlights the diverse work and experiences of N4 members across Canada. 

This blog is the latest installment in N4’s Featured Member series, which highlights the diverse work and experiences of N4 members across Canada.

Dr. Annalee Coakley is the Co-Chair of the N4 Advisory Committee, the Physician Lead of the Mosaic Refugee Health Clinic, and the Medical Director of the Calgary Refugee Health Program in Calgary, Alberta. Dr. Coakley initially became interested in medicine by reading The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance...

Rama Musharbash-Kovacsi is a National Newcomer Navigation Network (N4) member, a student of the N4 and Saint-Paul University Online Program, and School Community Ambassador in the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board. Rama is also a former newcomer to Canada herself – originally from Jordan, Rama moved to the United States as an undergraduate student, and then came to Windsor, Ontario, as a graduate student in Kinesiology, later going on to pursue a teaching career.  

James Swaka, a student of the N4-SPU Online Program, was born in South Sudan and came to Canada as a refugee student through the World University Service of Canada (WUSC) program. Starting in university, James was called upon to be an interpreter of both the language and the experience of people who were coming from refugee camps due to his own lived experience with these camps. He now works as a case manager at Reception House for the Waterloo region, an organization that welcomes and settles government-assisted...

The advantage of Lived Experience in Helping Others

Sunita Gupta is a student of the SPU-N4 Online Program and has lived the newcomer experience several times over. She exemplifies how the impact of lived experience contributes to the development and implementation of newcomer-centric services. Born in Kenya to a family of immigrants, she moved to India where she lived for ten years without citizenship. Afterward, she moved to the United Kingdom where she and her family were British subjects (similar...

rainbowrailroad.org · Toronto, ON

Rainbow Railroad is global not-for-profit organization that helps LGBTQI+ people facing persecution based on their sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics. In a time when there are more displaced people than ever before, LGBTQI+ people are uniquely vulnerable due to systemic, state-enabled homophobia and transphobia. These factors either displace them in their own country or prevent them from escaping harm.

Download

• The Impact...