Centretown residents greeted incoming refugees with a warmer-than-usual winter — and not just in terms of the weather.
Handmade hats, mittens, socks and other knitted goods were donated by Ottawa residents to incoming refugees. The donations were generated by a project called First Canadian Winter, Elise Letourneau’s attempt at creating a warm welcome for refugees who will resettle in Ottawa.
“I’m really pleased with the response,” she says. “I would estimate that there have been 1,500 items that have come in so far.”
Letourneau paired her project with Welcome Box, an organization that includes the knitted goods in gift boxes given to refugees moving to Ottawa.
These boxes contain items such as hygienic products and “fun items,” what Welcome Box’s president Renee Taylor describes as “movie ticket passes, dinner passes, toys and backpacks for children.”
She says the boxes are another way to welcome refugees.
“One way that we understood we could actually help the Syrians coming in would be to show them that they are welcome,” she says.
The Syrian civil war has been ongoing, forcing millions of people to flee their homes and displacing them to neighbouring countries.
Many have ended up in refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon. Others embarked on harrowing Mediterranean Sea crossings in which hundreds have died. For many, a life in Canada will be a new start.
“Through our initiative we’re just trying to show them that there are a big group of people in the community that are more than happy to have (them) here. The box is a box of essential items, but it really is our token, our gift to them. It’s a welcoming present, you could say, to our newest community members,” she adds.
Although Taylor says the response so far to the boxes has been positive, privacy concerns make it difficult for her to identify recipients.
According to the Canadian government, 900 government-assisted refugees have been welcomed into the Ottawa area since Nov. 4, with 195 privately sponsored refugees during that same time frame. Some of them are residing in Centretown.
The majority of the programs aimed at assisting the resettlement of refugees are also headquartered in downtown Ottawa.
According to Letourneau, five locations in Ottawa collected items for the drive, including Yarn Forward and Alcorn Music Studios.
Roger Manship from Yarn Forward, located on Bank Street, says that customers were keen to help by donating items.
“We should be helping out the refugees,” he says. “We did our bit and the customers wanted to help out a lot, which was great.”
“When (First Canadian Winter) came into the store suggesting we collect knitted goods for Syrian refugees, it just seemed a natural extension of what we were already doing,” he adds.
Manship also says that he has found Ottawa residents to be very hospitable, and the First Canadian Winter project is a prime example of that.
“We haven’t heard any negative comments in the store, at all, and obviously we have collected a lot of knitted goods for refugees. I think Ottawans in general seem very welcoming.”
Although the First Canadian Winter project ended Feb. 14, Welcome Box organizers say they are still collecting knitted donations for their boxes.
Letourneau says she might continue her project next year, if the need still exists.
“If anything, I think I might take a break over the spring or the summer. I would be willing to contact the places where we’re collecting and check in. It isn’t something I can do all by myself. If others are willing to continue, I may well try it again and continue next winter, especially if the need is still out there locally.
“I think it’s all part of paying your rent for your space on the plant planet,” she says, explaining why she chose to start the project. “I was fortunate enough to be born Canadian, and I’ve enjoyed many blessings over the course of my life. It’s all part of doing your bit.”