Parker Johnson
City of Vancouver, Vancouver, BC

How does one negotiate her/his identity as an immigrant in Canada? As a middle-aged, male, African-American immigrant to Vancouver, I navigate the cultural terrain with paradoxical dissonance and familiarity. Having worked in diversity-related jobs for over 30 years, both in the US and in Canada, I have found it both illuminating and puzzling how race and ethnicity are communicated in Vancouver. What are some of the parameters and rules of the game of social inclusion? Using an interactive discussion format, relevant aspects of popular culture, social research, and personal experience of race and ethnicity in Vancouver will be examined.

Dilek Kayaalp
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC

This empirical research analyzes an understudied population: Turkish immigrant youths' educational experiences of inclusion/exclusion in Vancouver. The results indicate that first-generation, Muslim female Turkish youth from working-class families are subject to teachers' racism, linguicism, and general Islamophobia in the education market. By contrast, non-religious, second-generation youth from middle-class families seem to handle discrimination and similar challenges better, perhaps because they are equipped with an 'insider' understanding of the dominant educational and social norms throughout their socialization process and education. The findings suggest that cultural background, immigration status, class and religious affiliation are significant elements in students' relations to the school culture and their educational experiences of inclusion/exclusion in Canadian schools.

Zhenyi Li
Royal Roads University, Victoria, BC

Daniela Tuchel
Royal Roads University, Victoria, BC

This study applies narrative inquiry to analyze discourse obtained from interviews of 15 recent Chinese immigrants with foreign credentials in order to find out barriers and opportunities for a positive change during their acculturation process. In particular, we focus on these immigrants' perceptions on and attitudes towards education, career development, and foreign credential recognition systems in British Columbia. Canada's governmental, industrial, and educational organizations need to understand the barriers and opportunities to facilitate a positive change, not only for these immigrants, but also for the development of their own organizations. Four major themes emerge from the data analysis: the over-emphasized English language proficiency versus the under-estimated significance of communication skill development; the disparity of the Chinese immigrants versus the standardization of Canadian educational services; the marginalization of immigrants; and the limited support for immigrant acculturation. These barriers, nevertheless, can be regarded as opportunities for a positive change if more care is taken with interpersonal communication, intercultural understanding, and knowledge exchange. In conclusion, neither foreign credential nor English language constructs barriers or forms opportunities for immigrants' acculturation. It is intercultural communication and understanding that can mitigate acculturation stress.

Clare Myers
ClareVoyant Consulting, Calgary, AB

Understanding the cultural expectations and communication norms of the business workplace is critical to the success of internationally educated professionals (IEPs). While many IEPs possess strong technical skills, they may lack familiarity with the cultural underpinnings and "hidden rules" of preferred interaction in the Canadian workplace. This session will describe a scenario-based model of workplace training that takes an intercultural approach to helping IEPs develop the self‐awareness, cultural knowledge, and pragmatic skills that will enhance their effectiveness as professionals in Canada.

Diane Hardy
Bow Valley College, Calgary, AB

Hana Taleb Imai
Bow Valley College, Calgary, AB

Using an Appreciative Inquiry approach, learn about the design and delivery of a professional learning strategy used at Bow Valley College to raise department and campus intercultural awareness. This presentation will outline the route we have taken over the past five years to introduce, embed and advance intercultural skills and understanding for faculty, staff and learners at our institution. The presentation will share strengths, values, drivers, successful approaches and activities that we have used to support this initiative.

Natasha Aruliah
Diversity and Intercultural Facilitator, Vancouver, BC

This session focuses on my experiences as a practitioner, consultant and facilitator in the field of diversity and social justice. Having started my career as a counsellor, I found that the experience of difference and not fitting in was a painful one, and that awareness and behavioural change among participants without a fundamental change of attitude is mere compliance and not long lasting. I recognised that to support successful and deep internal change, practitioners needed to create opportunities to challenge their participants on a level that involved both cognitive and emotional engagement.

In this session we will explore an integrative approach that includes an analysis of power and privilege as well as intercultural competence and emotional intelligence. We will reflect on some of the emerging knowledge from neuroscience, the connection between emotions and behaviour, and how it links to intercultural competence and diversity. Through experiential exercises we will explore how we can engage with this work to bring about shifts in attitudes and behaviours around diversity and cultural difference.

Peter Wanyenya
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC

CJ Rowe
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC

The really? campaign is a comprehensive approach to discrimination response and violence prevention that draws on the power of peer and cultural influence in society. This model encourages all individuals, regardless of their gender, race, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status to take on leadership roles at the university and in their communities. Informed by the "Active Witnessing Model," this approach is one that encourages every individual to be an active witness in their day-to-day lives and empowers them to take an active role in promoting positive social change. No more walking away from scenes of discrimination and prejudice, demeaning and stereotypical comments, racist jokes and all those situations when we wished we said or did something to help. The really? campaign encourages and empowers participants to step up, and safely respond. Join us in an interactive workshop to learn more about this model and how you can incorporate this framework into your own work.

Hawa Mire
Leave Out Violence BC (LOVE) and Point Youth Media

In 2011, LOVE BC started Media Arts Program: Indigenous, Newcomer and Youth of Color (MAP-INC), which is an after-school program for youth facing multiple barriers: those who self-identify as Aboriginal, Indigenous, racialized, Canadian-born, immigrant and/or newcomer youth of colour between the ages of 13 to 18. LOVE BC began to operate using an anti-oppressive framework to support the creation of the MAP-INC program in 2011. This interactive workshop shares some of LOVE BC's specific organizational strategies and successes in implementing a program of this magnitude. It demonstrates the effectiveness and need for programs such as MAP-INC. It also explores present-day trends in intercultural and diversity work specifically looking at youth whose needs are not often served by mainstream programs, institution, services and/or other resources.