International Women’s Day: Immigration stories throughout Canada
08 Mar 2023国际妇女节：加拿大各地的移民故事 加拿大的移民妇女如何发挥作用。 International Women’s Day: Immigration stories throughout Canada How immigrant women in Canada are making a difference.
3 月 8 日是国际妇女节，这一天庆祝世界各地妇女取得的成就。 March 8 is International Women’s Day, a day that celebrates the achievements of women around the world.
加拿大移民、难民和公民部 (IRCC) 有一个页面专门介绍加拿大各地移民的鼓舞人心的故事。许多故事都是关于移民妇女，她们致力于丰富加拿大社区并真正改变加拿大人的生活。 Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has a page dedicated to covering inspiring stories from immigrants across Canada. Many of the stories are about immigrant women who have worked to enrich Canadian communities and make a real difference in Canadians’ lives.
米歇尔·巴顿-福布斯博士 Dr. Michelle Barton-Forbes
米歇尔·巴顿·福布斯 (Michelle Barton Forbes) 博士是牙买加出生的儿科传染病专家。在 COVID-19 大流行期间，她发起了多项研究以了解儿童的风险因素，并为更多研究奠定了基础。 Dr. Michelle Barton Forbes is a Jamaican-born pediatric infectious disease specialist. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she initiated multiple studies to learn about risk factors for children and laid the groundwork for more research.
Barton-Forbes 博士于 2004 年带着她的三个年幼的女儿从牙买加来到这里，她们的年龄都在 5 到 10 岁之间。当时，她的丈夫无法到加拿大与她团聚，所以她基本上是一个全职工作的单亲妈妈- 获得研究奖学金的时间，同时还完成了临床流行病学硕士学位。 Dr. Barton-Forbes arrived from Jamaica in 2004 along with her three young daughters, all between the ages of 5 and 10. At the time, her husband was not able to join her in Canada, so she was essentially a single parent working full-time at a research fellowship while also completing her master’s degree in clinical epidemiology.
她现在是伦敦健康科学中心儿童医院的儿科传染病科主任。在治疗儿童和监督他们的护理的同时，Barton-Forbes 博士还在西部大学舒立克医学和牙科学院担任副教授，推进开创性研究和指导住院医师。 She is now chief of pediatric infectious diseases at the Children’s Hospital at London Health Sciences Centre. While treating children and overseeing their care, Dr. Barton-Forbes is also advancing ground-breaking research and mentoring medical residents as an associate professor at Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry.
她不仅探讨了 COVID-19 如何影响儿童以及与发生严重并发症相关的风险因素，而且还探讨了医学界如何更好地满足黑人人口的需求，他们似乎受到大流行的影响不成比例。 Not only did she explore how COVID-19 affected children and the risk factors associated with developing serious complications, but she also explored how the medical community could better meet the demands of the Black population, who seemed disproportionally affected by the pandemic.
“我希望为那些特殊的天使提供最好的照顾，这让我有精力加班加点，”Barton-Forbes 博士说。 “我一直在寻找未解决问题的答案，并为我的小病人寻求最好的结果。” “My desire to give those special angels the very best care gives me the energy to work extra hours,” says Dr. Barton-Forbes. “I am always looking for answers to unsolved problems and seeking the best possible outcomes for my little patients.”
###齐塔·索马科科 Zita Somakoko
Zita Somakoko 来自中非共和国，在那里她嫁给了她的高中恋人。在他们的关系破裂并开始辱骂之后，她在 34 岁时逃到了加拿大，最终她的孩子们得以与她团聚。 Zita Somakoko is from the Central African Republic, where she married her high school sweetheart. After their relationship unravelled and became abusive, she fled to Canada at age 34 and eventually her children were able to join her.
Zita 现在拥有自己的人力资源咨询公司。她还是曼尼托巴黑人商会的创始人和第一任主席，也是加拿大第二位成立商会的女性。她的公司还资助了一个倡导和提高认识的组织，她开始将这个组织称为“打破家庭暴力的沉默”。 Zita now owns her own human resources consulting company. She is also the founder and first president of the Black-Manitobans Chamber of Commerce and the second woman in Canada to have founded a chamber of commerce. Her company also helps to fund an advocacy and awareness organization that she started called Breaking the Silence on Domestic Violence.
她的倡导工作源于她自己的虐待经历以及虐待对她孩子的影响。她对马尼托巴省家庭暴力的研究表明，缺乏意识是该计划的重要组成部分。 Breaking the Silence 现在使用艺术展览、会议和研讨会等各种交流形式来提高对家庭暴力的认识，并追究肇事者和旁观者的责任。 Her advocacy work stems from her own experiences with abuse and the effects the abuse had on her children. Her research on domestic violence in Manitoba showed that a lack of awareness is a big part of the program. Breaking the Silence now uses various communication forms like art exhibitions, conferences, and workshops to generate awareness about domestic violence and to hold both perpetrators and bystanders accountable.
Zita 说，她终于在加拿大找到了喘息的机会，摆脱了虐待的恐惧和难民的艰辛，因为她找到了为社区做出贡献的目标。 “我是一只从一个巢飞到另一个巢的鸟，直到我降落在这里的那一天”。 Zita says that she has finally found respite in Canada from the terrors of abuse and the hardships of being a refugee, as she’s found purpose in contributing to her community. “I was a bird flying from one nest to the other until the day I landed here”.
Toos Giesen-Stefiuk Toos Giesen-Stefiuk
Toos Giesen-Stefiuk 和她的家人于 1981 年从荷兰移居加拿大，定居在萨斯喀彻温省的格拉维尔堡。 Gravelbourg 是一个草原小镇，一个多世纪以来一直在发展和繁荣，部分原因在于它的多样性和开放性。 Toos Giesen-Stefiuk and her family moved to Canada from the Netherlands in 1981, settling in Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan. Gravelbourg is a small Prairie town that has grown and flourished for more than a century thanks in part to its diversity and openness.
Toos 是领导夏至节的团体的一员，该节是 Gravelbourg 社区的重要经济驱动力。据 Gravelbourg 市长说，如果没有 Toos，一年一度的活动很可能已经取消。 Toos was part of a group that led the Summer Solstice Festival, which is an important economic driver for the Gravelbourg community. According to the mayor of Gravelbourg, without Toos, the annual event may well have been cancelled.
在她居住在加拿大的这些年里，Toos 和她的家人创造了许多就业机会，并促进了 Gravelbourg 当地的旅游业。 Toos 目前经营一家名为 La Maison 315 的住宿加早餐旅馆。她的家族还拥有并经营一家建筑公司，建造了 Gravelbourg Inn 并开设了地标性建筑 Café Paris，该咖啡馆已成为社区的聚集地。 Over the many years she has been in Canada, Toos and her family have created many jobs and have boosted local tourism in Gravelbourg. Toos currently runs a bed and breakfast called La Maison 315. Her family also owned and operated a construction company, building the Gravelbourg Inn and opened the landmark Café Paris, which has become a gathering place for the community.
除了她的商业努力之外，Toos 还是镇议会的一员，并通过参与保护 Gravelbourg 的遗产建筑和组织一年一度的国际美食节，积极参与社区的经济和文化发展。 In addition to her business endeavours, Toos has been part of town council and actively engaged in the economic and cultural development of her community, by being involved in preserving Gravelbourg’s heritage buildings and organizing an annual international food festival.
Toos 的故事表明，移民很重要，尤其是在较小的社区。 “在过去的 37 年里，我一直在加拿大，我的家人一直致力于创造就业机会并回馈 Gravelbourg，因为我们很幸运能住在这里。在加拿大，你真的可以有所作为”。 Toos story shows that immigration matters especially in smaller communities. “In the past 37 years I’ve been in Canada, my family has always worked to create jobs and give back to Gravelbourg because we felt so fortunate to live here. In Canada, you can really make a difference”.
FCGvisa translated, © CIC News All Rights Reserved.