Immigrant women group hosts open house to reach out to other cultural organizations
Jordan Gowling
Accompagnement des femmes immigrantes de l’Outaouais (AFIO), an organization that provides guidance and services for immigrant women in the region, hosted a virtual open house on January 21, in order to reach out to other cultural organizations.
“Today is mainly to present what we do at AFIO in the hopes of developing some partnerships,” said Bettyna Belizaire, director of AFIO, an organization funded through the Quebec ministries of immigration and social services.
Some of the cultural organizations present during the zoom event included the Centre Communautaire, the Conseil de la communauté noire de Gatineau, the Cuban Canadian Association and the Syrian Arab Association of Canada. Belizaire explained that AFIO often works in collaboration with other organizations to offer programs for its membership, which is comprised mainly of adults aged 31-55, who come from Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. AFIO provides integration services, information sessions, French courses and social services when necessary. During the 2019-2020 year, AFIO made a total of 932 interventions. Belizaire says that while their mission is to help empower immigrant women, their programs often require the full participation of family members in order to work. “In some of the services that we offer, we actually prefer that both parents are present so that they can do the work together,” said Belizaire. However, Belizaire reiterated the organization’s gender-based focus when she outlined their current partnerships.
AGIR Outaouais being one of them, is currently partnered with AFIO to help provide guidance for any immigrant women who would like to seek political office. “We want more women in positions in power,” said Belizaire. “If you look at the main organizations [in Gatineau], none of them have representation from the immigrant community on their board of administration.”
AFIO is also currently partnered with Les Rendez-Vous Culturels, a Quebec government initiative that promotes Quebec culture and language, although most activities have been moved to virtual platforms for the time being. The presentation also showed clips of many of its members, who all expressed thankfulness for the organization’s positive impact on their integration process.
Belizaire finished up her remarks by saying AFIO would also like to deepen its relationship with the business community, including with the Gatineau Chamber of Commerce.
