Shane Henderson: Human Rights. Welcome Place.

Stuart Murray  0:00  
This podcast was recorded on the ancestral lands on Treaty One territory, the traditional territory of the Anishnawbe, Cree, Oji Cree, Dakota, and the Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis nation.

Voiceover  0:19  
This is Humans On Rights, a podcast advocating for the education of human rights. Here's your host, Stuart Murray.

Stuart Murray  0:31  
July 1st in Canada is a day that we celebrate, whether it's a birthday or an anniversary, I think a lot of people from a lot of communities look at as an anniversary, because birthday is a date that you move forward. And frankly, there's been many, many people in this country before it became Canada. First Nations Indigenous peoples have been here years and years before. Having said that July 1st is a day that there's an anniversary and a lot of Canadians like to say that we're very proud of this great country. But not everybody is born here. And one of the things that I want to talk to my guest today, Shane Henderson, about people that come from outside of Canada that are looking for a place to call home or to settle or how does that work? And what are some of the challenges involved in that. And that's why I'm thrilled and delighted to welcome to Humans On Rights, my guest, Shane Henderson. Shane Henderson is the executive director of Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council Incorporated, but it's commonly known as Welcome Place. Now, Shane has 25 years of experience in finance and operation roles. A lot of that in the not for profit sector. He's key in reestablishing organizational experiences, financial and administrative challenges. So lots of great experience. And I know on the personal side, in his notes, he talks a lot about being a mentor in sports and loving sports and how he uses some of the sports analogies in his workplace. So let's just start from the beginning. Shane Henderson, welcome to Humans On Rights.

Shane Henderson  2:07  
Thank you. Thank you for having me, Stuart.

Stuart Murray  2:08  
So Shane, just a little bit about you your personal journey, are you- is Manitoba home? How did you sort of find your your life's journey being in this very important role of being the executive director of such an important place? Welcome Place?

Shane Henderson  2:21  
Yeah, well, I was actually born in the East Coast. I lived there till about 12. My dad worked for the CN. So they shut down the shops there. And we had a choice to move to either Montreal or Winnipeg. And seeing that my dad is very thrifty Winnipeg was the place to come to. Which is quite fitting for anyone who's actually been to Winnipeg and stuff like that. We're always looking for the deals and how to stretch the dollar and all that kind of stuff. So I still consider East Coast home. But really, Manitoba Winnipeg is my home.

Stuart Murray  2:55  
Sure your roots are- are east coast but you're- you're home. Did you do your schooling here, Shane, in Winnipeg?

Shane Henderson  3:01  
Yeah, I started very young age in my early 20s, looking at going through the, at the time, the CGA and CMA program, which is now amalgamated into the CA. Got pretty close to finishing up my degree, then life happens when you start having kids at a very young age, I was, you know, I got married very young and have three children and kind of put that to the side. So it all go back to that when when my kids are older. That never happened. But I always had a you know, a strong, you know, I love finance, I love money. I love finding ways to be creative. You know, I started off my finance career doing a little bit of like, working in the private sector in the public sector. And but it was always like, what am I doing here, I'm just trying to sell a product and trying to make revenue. And then I kind of got my first taste of nonprofit world actually, right next to where the Human Rights Museum was built, the Manitoba Theater for Young People. At the time, when you guys were building the museum, and you know, went into there, and they were, you know, having troubles making payroll, and going through a quite a financial thing. And so kind of went in and kind of helped them out guide things, set up new processes and, and get them out of debt and put them on a good footing for the future. And so I've always had that strong sense of, you know, what can I do in the nonprofit world to really, you know, put a stamp on things and really help people understand that, you know, nonprofit, they don't get a lot of money. And you know, we're always fighting for contracts, or we're fighting for donations, and how do we best utilize that money and be, you know, proper stewards of, of the money that people are giving us and trusting us and how do we how do we make best resources? So, you know, from there, worked about five years and finance people typically tend to find new jobs after five years. It seems to be our ceiling. But I've you know, I think I've been here at Welcome Place for over seven years. So I've passed that hurdle. I've got over that that thing and I really love the humanitarian aspect that we do things and, and like I said, like, you know, what can we do with the money? And how can we serve, you know, people with limited resources. And one of the things that that we're quite proud of here with our team is that we used to get a quite a bit of sizable grants and such. And we see typically about 4000 clients every year, we're now seeing the same amount of clients with operating with 2.8 million less. So you know, that's really the show, you know, how the nonprofit sector can really, you know, find ways to reduce costs and be more efficient and operate and change, you know, things. So, those are things that I'm very passionate about is, you know, how can I bring that knowledge and stuff to to the rest of our sector?

Stuart Murray  5:46  
For sure. And I think, you know, Shane, just before we get into kind of your role as the Executive Director of Welcome Place, I think, you know, you make a very good point about the, the financial side of the non for profits, you know, I've had the opportunity in many times to be involved in not for profits myself, sometimes, you know, with the management side, working with a board of wonderful volunteers. But I sometimes think that business people, and this is a generalization, you can disagree with me if you- if you feel, please. But I've often thought that a lot of people who are run successful businesses, when they come into a not for profit, for some reason, they have a slightly different view of how the organization works, or what happens or, you know, when you introduce the word volunteers, it seems to change the focus, and you're trying to say to them, no, we're an organization and maybe not for profit, but all of the elements of running, you know, your personal, your private business, all of those elements, you know, do have a real holding place in a not for profit, it just it's a different name. So, I don't know if you've, if you've had that same experience, but clearly, you've great success at it.

Shane Henderson  6:56  
Absolutely. And it's one of the things that, you know, when I when I work at a not for profit, I like to think it's my own company, and how am I going to make this like, you know, when people think not for profit, is oh, you're, you know, you're doing this work, and, and, you know, you're trying to break even, but a lot of not for profits are like running out as a not for loss. Right. And then that's really hard to understand, you know, that they need that strong financial background, someone in that that's been able to sit there and, you know, look at projects and try different pilot projects and work the cost out. And, you know, for me, it's a return on investment. And our greatest return on investment is the success of our, you know, our refugee clients. 

Stuart Murray  7:39  
Yeah. So how did you just kind of find yourself walking through the door, the first time to Welcome Place? And when you walked through that door, were you the Executive Director at that time, or did you have another job? Or is that where you started?

Shane Henderson  7:51  
They were hiring for a Director of Finance and Operations, which is obviously, you know, what I like to do and humanitarian type, things have always been one of the types of things that it's always on my mind. You know, one of the things I think Canadians don't really realize is, you know, we're really lucky to be born and raised in Canada. And sorry, I get a little bit emotional here, because it's-

Stuart Murray  8:13  
All good. 

Shane Henderson  8:13  
You know, you see the people that come through, and you read their stories and their journeys and how to get here, and it's like, man, like, we are so blessed. And you know, sometimes it's like, oh, I'm stuck in traffic, and it took me an extra five minutes, you know, we just lose that, that connection. So, you know, finding a place like this to where you can just really get grounded and see the change of people's lives. And for the better. It really, to me, you can't pay me enough, right, like, I could go somewhere and work the private sector make three times as much, but I'm not doing that work, because it's not fulfilling. So so, you know, I found Welcome Place. And at the time, I was a, you know, as I said, the Director of Finance and Operations. And, you know, we went through some challenges five years ago, and I got, you know, asked to, to clean things up and take on the role of executive director, and now I'm kind of doing both roles. 

Stuart Murray  9:06  
Right. Yeah. I mean, you obviously brought your skill set. I mean, at the time, Welcome Place, you know, as you admitted, there were some challenges, lots of challenges in most organizations you came in, you've taken what was a, you know, a difficult situation and now you're moving forward. And so Shane, just maybe a couple of things just for listeners, we'll continue to talk about Welcome Place as Welcome Place, that's what it's known as, but it is, I think, officially or maybe its proper name, if I could use that term is Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council Inc. So that's how it was established. Some I guess, 75 odd years ago, I think. 

Shane Henderson  9:44  
Yep. 

Stuart Murray  9:44  
So there is an interfaith organization behind what is called Welcome Place. 

Shane Henderson  9:50  
Correct. And it's not like we're an actual like, you know, church or, you know, that type thing like the Interfaith came- so in- in back history in 1945 after the Second World War, a bunch of different congregants got together and they wanted to help refugees and settle. So, you know, actually 79 years, so next year will be our 80th anniversary. So when we look back at the history and stuff, we've kept that interfaith as part of the thing. So our volunteer board, the seats are made up of multifaith within the city. So you know, we have two seats allocated to the Catholic and two seats, whatever makes going down the list of all different things. And that's a way to make sure that you know, because when it makes a very diverse and very community, city, so it's a good way to make sure that all different congregations are heard, and, and part of the the process of what we do.

Stuart Murray  10:41  
And so let's get into that, as an Executive Director for Welcome Place, let's just talk a little bit about the mission of what Welcome Place is, and let's talk about how we can wrap that into some of the things that you're actually doing. So it's always great to lift words off of a page into action. So talk a little bit about the mission of Welcome Place, and then let's get into a discussion about some of the specific projects you're involved in.

Shane Henderson  11:05  
So our purpose here is like we try to exist to foster dignity, you know, like independence and compassion for all refugees that are arriving here in Manitoba. And one of our goals is to make their lives easier, you know, as a refugee, when they settle, if anyone's ever moved to a different country, or don't speak the language and stuff like that, how to navigate, it's very, very stressful. And a lot of our clients are coming here with already leaving very stressful, and, you know, sometimes being persecuted or tortured or whatnot. And, you know, we want to try to make their, their settlement journey as easy as possible. So, you know, we try to, you know, welcome them, you know, establish, you know, settlement plans and goals, and really, with the goal of them becoming contributing members of our community across Manitoba.

Stuart Murray  11:54  
Yeah. So Shane, let me just ask, because sometimes- a lot of times- there's a bit of a disconnect, I find in conversations with some of my other guests about refugees, asylum seekers, immigration, migration. With respect to Welcome Place, is there an area that you're more focused on, like with respect to refugees? 

Shane Henderson  12:13  
Yeah, so like, when people talk about, like, newcomers, immigrants, you know, that a lot of, you know, people talk about, like, the- Canada's level is almost 500,000 every year, and you know, but when you when you break that down into economic refugees and family class, you know, that's almost 80 to 85% of it, what we tend to focus on is the other 20%, which are the refugees and protected persons, whether it be a resettled, you know, government assisted refugee, a privately sponsored refugee, asylum seeker is what they're called, or even just even doing, you know, a little bit of a blended Visa type offered situation where, you know, we're bringing people into our country, and we're helping them out financially. And a lot of times, these financial resources are only for their first year. And to me, you know, it's great that we give them a little bit of footing, but to come to a new country, try to learn a new language, try to find employment, you know, navigate are very complex systems and forms and all that kind of stuff. You know, it's really daunting. And, you know, sometimes that first year is not enough, you know, and sometimes the the allocation, you know, that they are getting help with or from family members is not enough. Right. And, you know, for me, for a person to truly get settled, I think it's really a three to four year program. And those are one of the things that, you know, we wish that you know, there was funding and other things that help them out with that, but unfortunately, it's not. 

Stuart Murray  13:37  
So Shane, we talked a little bit just before we went on air here, and I know you say you don't like the term asylum seekers. Why is that? And what would you prefer that we use?

Shane Henderson  13:48  
A lot of times because they're here to seek a claim, right, and we refer to them as a refugee claimant. When you use the word seeker, it has that, that strong thing that it's negative, and, you know, they're just seeking to, to pull money and be supported. And, and it's like, it's the total opposite, you know, they're here, they're, they're fleeing, like countries where they have shoot to kill orders and, and their journeys to get here is like, you can't imagine it. And you know, just to get here, and when they arrive, it's like, right away, they want to, you know, I want to find a job, I want to learn English, I want to do all these things. And when they get to those points, you know, although there's hurdles, because it takes times, with with our processes is, you know, like they'll work two or three jobs and a lot of times they'll do those jobs that most Canadians don't want to do, and they'll work and they'll send money back home and then they'll try to bring more family members over and so it's like when you hear the word seeker to me it's you know, it's really all they're doing is just trying to- they're claiming refuge, right? Help me out, I can't return to my country. If I return I'm going to be tortured or killed or my family members are going to so on. So it's a lot of times we just like to refer them as refugee claimants. 

Stuart Murray  13:48  
Right. You know, thanks for the clarification. And I think, again, you know, language in these conversations is super important. So appreciate the way that you view the world because I think that's the most important thing right now. It's really difficult to say, what's a standard? Or what's a typical day in the life of Shane Henderson? But just for example, how do you get sort of tapped on the shoulder as the Executive Director of Welcome Place and say, there's a family coming from, I'll just pick a country, Sudan, just walk us through a little bit about what's the process? And and how is it that you know, you at Welcome Place are designated for a specific family, say as I'm using in this example, from Sudan. 

Shane Henderson  15:43  
So there's only a few different pathways that they can come as a refugee, right. And I mentioned earlier, like there is government sponsored refugees. So these are ones where the government will be, you know, paying the cost for the first year, they'll work with an agency like ours, we'll we'll meet them at the airport, we'll we'll bring them into our, to our building. So our building is really nice, because we have three floors of 30 apartments, we're able to house them for temporary accommodations, and then give them a holistic approach to their settlement needs. And then find them permanent residence after that. The second pathway is through privately sponsored refugees. So this is where we're, we will partner with the Government of Canada, and, you know, within the community, you know, community members, whether it be a church, co sponsors, family members are a group of five, and we'll sign an agreement that we will financially take care of them for that first year, and provide them all the settlement services that they need. And then obviously, the third was refugee claimants that are, you know, tracking here by foot and coming across. So a lot of their journeys, you know, really starts with, you know, them being stuck, displaced, I think, what are the 100 and 70 million people are displaced right now in the world, right. And when you look at those numbers, it's like, wow, like, and a lot of times, they'll be stuck in refugee camps or hiding out in different countries, and they can be waiting many years. It's not like, Oh, I've been accepted, and I gotta go through, it's a long process. And along, you know, it takes them a lot of time to arrive. But when they get here, like they are motivated, and they're motivated to contribute, to be part of the community to volunteer to do whatever they can and succeed, and we've seen those numbers. You know, we see they're very highly educated, they fill in a lot of our, you know, healthcare shortages, construction. Another great thing about Winnipeg, there's always lots of construction happening. So there's plentiful jobs. Right. And you know, when you look at some of the numbers in Canada, like, one in five Canadians of the working age are set to retire in the next two or three years 21% of our workforce, what are we going to do? Like, how are we going to fill that? Well, we've got to fill that by bringing in immigration levels. And so the journey for them to get here is, it's tough. You know, when I look at our proudly sponsored, as you know, like I said, we're a Sponsorship Agreement holder, we get 140 spots a year, that we can partner with with people to bring to Canada, we do a lottery system, and we open up for one week, we get 5000 applicants.

Stuart Murray  18:21  
For 140 positions. 

Shane Henderson  18:23  
For 140 spots. 

Stuart Murray  18:25  
A family of five is not part of 140. That's 130, like, like minus five is 135. 

Shane Henderson  18:31  
Correct. 

Stuart Murray  18:32  
Okay, so then just on that 5000 applications, Shane, fascinating, are all those applicants, where would they come from?

Shane Henderson  18:38  
So they're typically coming from some of our- Eritrea, Somalia, you know, some of our top countries that are that are coming in, but what we try to do is our lottery system was built on looking at the global aspect of displaced people. And then whatever the highest percentages are of all those, we, you know, say 30% are from Africa, okay, well, then we'll, we'll we'll allocate 30% of those to Africa, or East Asia, or whatever it might be. So we tried to do it so that it's fair, and we're representing, you know, many different communities.

Stuart Murray  19:08  
Appreciate that. And then on the other side of it on sort of on the receiving side, Shane, when you know, you've got 140 spots, and you're co-sponsoring, how many organizations come forward to try to co-sponsor those 140 spots?

Shane Henderson  19:23  
That's- those organizations- we'll get 5000 applicants. 

Stuart Murray  19:26  
Those are people that are saying, look, we want to bring those families to Manitoba, to Winnipeg. So those 5000 applicants, do they have to be Manitoba and Winnipeggers or?

Shane Henderson  19:36  
Yeah, well, it's it's preferably like because it's on the flip side there's there's two things as a Sponsorship Agreement holder, we have to we have to make sure that they're financially taken care of that first year and and that they're also provide a settlement services. So being our agency, you know, we are a settlement service providing agency so that's that's easy part, but it's the financial capability that we need to- so you know, we prefer are that they are within Manitoba so that, you know, we can make sure that they're getting that wraparound service. But again, there are cases where they'll connect in Toronto, and then they won't show up. And they'll have family and friends in Toronto, and they'll they'll stay there. So when that happens, we have to find an alternate sponsor to make sure that those needs are met and part of the agreement. So a lot of what we do is educating, you know, the groups that are interested in doing this stuff, we put on seminars, let them know what their roles and responsibilities are. And then a lot of follow ups and checkups, you know, whether it's with the co sponsors or the groups or just even with individual to make sure that they are getting their needs met. 

Stuart Murray  20:39  
You talk about three different ways that refugees come into Canada, and particularly find themselves at Welcome Place. Shane, is there one area that is growing more than the other, you know, government versus corporate versus, of course, those who are fleeing, and just find themselves walking across the border? Is there one area that seems to be growing more than the other? 

Shane Henderson  20:59  
Yeah, for the past year and a half, I would say the refugee claimant area has almost doubled, if not tripled? You know, when we talked about that area, you know, back in 2017-18, during the Trump administration, we saw high levels in Canada. And at that point, you know, we're looking at maybe 55,000 60,000, and Canada. Last year, we hit almost 145,000. And this year, we're projecting Canada to hit 190,000. So it's a growing concern, the Province of Manitoba seeing upwards of 150 to 160 refugee claims a month. 

Stuart Murray  21:39  
A month. 

Shane Henderson  21:39  
Yeah. 

Stuart Murray  21:40  
Wow.

Shane Henderson  21:40  
And some of the rulings is kind of, you know, Canada's put rulings in place, you know, they used to be able to cross and see claim right at the border, land border right now. Now, there's a ruling that they, they can't do that for two weeks. So they're kind of just hiding in limbo, when they cross, and they end up in shelters are already our shelters are already busting at the seams. So it's putting a lot of additional stress on that. So it's trying to, you know, handle the volume, we have a great partnership with Legal Aid Manitoba, where we have a consultant that comes in and helps mold their claims. We have volunteer lawyers that come and help with assist with their claims. We have actually a lot of legal students from the University of Manitoba Faculty of Law that come and donate and volunteer their time to help out because you can imagine like those claims, there's a deadline, it's like, once they started, it's like, 45 days, and they gotta get their bases of claim in and where have you been? And what was your journey? And how'd you get here and your family members? And what's your case? Why are you you know, seeking refuge, and it's a lot of work that's going to get done in a short amount of time. But, you know, when that work is done, you know, then they're able to access our health care, and then they're able to get a work permit, and, you know, and start, you know, contributing to our communities. So, you know, sometimes it could take up to six months, and, you know, sometimes longer.

Stuart Murray  23:01  
There's a 45 day kind of window that they have to get this done. I mean, obviously, just the way that things work. It's not always possible to do within 45 days, is it? Is it difficult to get an extension? Or how does that how does that work? And I, I guess I look at this from a strictly administrative standpoint, to a humane standpoint.

Shane Henderson  23:20  
One of the things that's odd with Canada is that if you've already tried to seek refuge in another country, and then Canada sees that is and well, you've already seek refuge in that country, then you're kind of already bypassed just one step. And then they moved you into what's called a pre risk removal assessment, which is really much tougher, a shorter deadline, like 14 days, and, and a lot of that, you know, which is to me is not very humane, because it's like, sure, they might have made their journey here. And they have no choice to come up through the South America and through Mexico and and end up in US, but, you know, they end up in a detention center and they're trying to seek claim and they get rejected and what's the other choice? Go back home and face prosecution or try to make your way to Canada? So a lot of those deadlines are very firm. We really rely on a lot of volunteers to make sure we don't miss any deadlines because it's it's you're really playing with people's lives. So and once we do go through that whole process and get all that stuff in like Canada has a very high success rate, you know, of accepting the claims. You know, there's lots of history and lots of older from this country, and they're from this place, and it's like yeah, yep. So they just kind of go through the motions, but I think one of the biggest things is they have to go to court and they have to really fight their lives to sustain in our great country. And I don't know if people have been to court or not, but I've been to traffic court and I'm scared, right, talking to a judge and and I've been here my life. Can you imagine going into where you don't speak the language and and you're trying to win a case? So you know, luckily enough there some of the good changes that the Province of Manitoba did is that they increase the tariffs for Legal Aid Manitoba to help out with those cases so that these people are getting actual proper legal care, and just not trying to fill out their application themselves or getting a community member to do it, who's you know, what, you know, if these lot of these applications, I feel that it's asking a lot of same repeated questions, and they're long, and and I feel like they're like trying to find a way to- oh, you said this on this form. And why is it not the same on this form? And, you know, it's, it's, it's like a game, it's almost, you know.

Stuart Murray  25:30  
I mean, it's tough enough for people that understand the language. But when you don't understand the language, you want to be very careful how you answer something, of course, understanding that they're looking for a mistake. So somebody they've passed, that they're successful in the 45 day window, then do I understand that they've got a year, sort of under your watch, and using kind of the that term that wraparound service through that one year to sort of allow them to find their footing? If they can, let's talk about the successes. So you know, the people that are able to do that, is that- is that accurate to say that they've got kind of a year under the watch of Welcome Place to get established?

Shane Henderson  26:07  
Well, it's like the 45 days is just to submit the application. So to actually get the hearing with Immigration Refugee Board, it could take anywhere from a year, year and a half to two years. 

Stuart Murray  26:17  
But they're in Canada, they're waiting for that.

Shane Henderson  26:19  
They're in Canada, they're waiting for that. So they've got their face documents, and they're allowed to work and they work permits and so forth. During that whole time, they're in our agency getting settlement support, you know, a lot of them, a lot of them come with, you know, a lot of psychosocial issues. So we'll make referrals to specialize agencies, you know, whatever their needs might be, that we can't do, there's, there's lots of cross cultural referrals, and then they're always taken care of, and then once they become accepted, then they're able to move on and still stay with us and access funding from IRCC, which is Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, and then they can still continue their journey until you know what the ultimate goal really is, for them to become a Canadian citizen. Right. So you know, you know, once once they become accepted, and they've, they they become a permanent resident, they get a little bit more access to other resources and stuff. So the typically, there'll be with us for five, seven years, you know, some of them will be with us forever, you know, that might never really reach that goal, you know, might have challenges and mental issues and will never be with that, but, you know, we'll we'll keep serving them.

Stuart Murray  27:31  
And you when you say be with us, you mean physically in Welcome Place in the- in the apartments that you have there. 

Shane Henderson  27:38  
Whether in the apartments are coming, you know, our settlement offices, we have two floors of settlement offices, where they're able to get support on, you know, whatever their needs are to help out with their their journeys and get settled.

Stuart Murray  27:50  
On the success side, is there a process to make a decision, when you look at a family, they've been in you under your care for time, and learning all sorts of things about the English language about how our bus system works, I mean, all of the training of skills that you're bringing forward to welcome these people to becoming Canadians, hopefully, as they go to a citizenship ceremony, is there some way Shane that- or some people that say, look, you're ready to go, uh, you know, you're ready to make a mark, you know, you've qualified for this, you qualified for that, you know, we're going to basically get you to go into the community and kind of started making a difference away from welcome places there kind of a hand off there, from a happy celebration, hand off, if I could use that term.

Shane Henderson  28:37  
So when they first come with us, we try to build like a settlement plan. You know, like, what are you? What are your goals, you know, your arrived in Canada, where do you want to achieve? Do you want to go to school, you want to work, you want to bring your family here, sort of whatever it might be, you know, and we build this long plan. And, and we kind of do in stages, okay, you know, like, this is our first goal. And this is our, you know, medium goals, and we've worked with them. And a lot of times, you know, some people will come to our offices three or four times a week, you know, once or twice a month. And then once they start getting more integrated, and more comfortable, and we also teach them, you know, how to do a lot of these forms, right, one of the biggest thing that, that we tried to change is the sector was notorious for, oh, just come with me. Come to my office, I'll fill out the form for you, and I'll do it. Right and then on it's kind of against the law, right? Like there's, there's really some stuff like that, like, you know, we're not really teaching them how to do it. So, we do a lot of you know, we have computer labs here and we teach them you know, computer skills, but we also teach them how to fill out their own forms, you know, step by step and, and go through that and to mention, like one of the great things about our places, we're doing this in their official language, right, all of our workers that are here have lived experience. They all speak their native language really, and we do that so that you know, they're able to feel more at home in comfort and and understand because you know, some some of the things from I don't know what that word is, or I don't know how to say that word, and we'll translate it and interpreted and, and so forth. So, but when they get to a certain point, you start seeing them, you know, they might come in, like once a year, or they might not come in, you know, for a couple years, and we'll do check ins on them and see who's going and, you know, because, you know, things change. And so we like to do, you know, a health check and make sure everything's alright. And at some point, really, once- once they be- we're applying for citizenship, can you- can you just help out with that? And that, to me is it's like, okay, accomplished, done. A lot of them are, you know, I look back, you know, our staff has, like, pretty much 90% of them are refugees, they've gone through that process, they've lived that experience, they know the journey, they know the struggles, and then they come back, and they either work here, they volunteer here or, you know, volunteer in their communities. And they get back. They're very, very generous.

Stuart Murray  31:01  
Yeah, no, I think that's something that's worth repeating. Shane, because I think that a lot of times, as you say, and it's why, you know, you take offense, and I agree with you in the word seeker, you know, it's not about that. It's about trying to find a new way to establish the roots in a country so that they can grow their family and by give back to the family, everything country, you know, and make a contribution. And I think that sometimes that's forgotten in this conversation. So appreciate you. I appreciate you sharing. Shane, I want to talk a little bit about I went through one of your annual reports and the amount of work that you do with your team there is so extraordinary, the amount of things that you're involved in, but I want it to sort of pick on a couple of pilot projects that I read, and I'd love you to to give a little bit more background detail on them. One of them was the- and I hope I get it right, the Blended Visa Office Referred, which is for newcomers, can you talk a little bit about that pilot project and how it got started, why it's important.

Shane Henderson  31:54  
There's always been an allocation from the federal government for that. And by allocation, I mean, like for Canada, there's 250 spots, like of people. And these are really specialized cases, these are ones that are really at risk. A lot of times it's it's women and children that are at extreme risks. There, they require a lot of attention, they require a lot of, you know, settlement needs. And they're really specialized cases. So this program is designed to where we partner with the Government of Canada, and we bring certain individuals to our province, and we take care of them for one to two years. And it's designed where the Government of Canada will pay for half of it, and a private donor will pay for the other half. So it's really a great way to blend, you know, the government assisted refugee and the private sector in a way to really help bring people that are really dire need to leave a place. And it's really, like once once we select the family, it's within a month or so that they get here. Right so like these are ones that are you know, UNCHR are really deemed as really special cases, they really need to get out of their situation where they're at, and they need a safe place to live. And luckily, we've been able to find a local private donor that's been willing to pay for the other half of the this costs. And it's really, you know, a great opportunity for us to really help those special cases because there's not enough attention that's that's drawn to that. One of the other pilot projects you'll probably read about in in our next AGM type thing is the- we're starting another partnership with a local donor out of Toronto that is looking at bringing women and girls that are sex traffickers out of Mexico, and bringing them to- here- to- to Winnipeg and to Nova Scotia. So we're looking at ways to partner with them to bring in close to 300 different families.

Stuart Murray  34:04  
And those families, when they come to Winnipeg, they're really coming under the guidance or the- the welcome of Welcome Place. Is that correct? 

Shane Henderson  34:12  
Yeah, absolutely. So right now we're just finalizing a job description. So obviously, you know, Mexico and stuff like that we're looking at someone Spanish speaking. But it'll be like, you know, making sure that they get all their needs met the coordination, making sure they're, you know, they're appropriately referred to the right agencies that they need to go to. We'll house them, we'll find them places to live. And just really provide them with all the sediment needs that they need.

Stuart Murray  34:38  
And again, Shane, is this coming through Immigration, Refugees and Vitizenship Canada? Is that kind of under the global part of what they're doing?

Shane Henderson  34:44  
Yeah, that's humanitarian and compassionate type response.

Stuart Murray  34:48  
Just going back for a sec. You mentioned UNCHR. Acronym for..?

Shane Henderson  34:53  
United Nations Commission Refugee Agency.

Stuart Murray  34:57  
Okay, good enough. No, I just say sometimes you got it. accurate news. Exactly.

Shane Henderson  35:02  
I try No.

Stuart Murray  35:04  
I know, you know, anyway, just it helps us sort of form it out. So appreciate that. A couple of the other pilot projects, Shane, if you want to just to share a little bit about because there are so many, but I thought what caught my eye was the settlement of rural Manitoba. 

Shane Henderson  35:16  
Yeah. 

Stuart Murray  35:17  
Talk a little bit about that.

Shane Henderson  35:18  
So we saw a need when Ukrainians were starting to come in, and they were housed in the hotels by the airport. And and they're coming in in plane loads. I think over the two years, I think Manitoba welcomed over 40,00 Ukrainians. 

Stuart Murray  35:33  
Wow. 

Shane Henderson  35:33  
That's a high number. And a lot of them were in hotels, and they're coming to an end of you know, they want to work, they wanted to live in different communities. And we saw an opportunity to partner with a lot of our settlement agencies that are working in rural Manitoba. And in a lot of them will provide the same settlement support that agency like mine does, but you're in Winnipeg, you go to this place for you want this done, you go to this place for mental health, you go to this place, if you want to learn English, go to this place if you want to find work. But in rural Manitoba, it's one agency, and they do all that together in one spot. So we saw an opportunity to really help the Ukrainians find places to live in rural Manitoba, linking them up to an agency that's out there, that's able to provide them settlemen services, link them up to other agencies, you know, there's what's called a LIP. So local immigration partnership, you know, that'll help them connect to the community, and so forth. And there's lots of jobs in rural Manitoba, rural Manitoba's struggling, and that has been struggling for many years. And they're finding that, you know, the ways to survive, just like Canada's realizing is through immigration. 

Stuart Murray  36:45  
Right. Interesting. 

Shane Henderson  36:46  
So we've kind of did this pilot project, little bit of funding, not a lot, but we've kind of self funded most a majority of it, where we take them to, we bring them and we do like, hey, here's 15 different communities, and we made these community profiles, and this is what this community has to offer. You know, this community has a hospital, this community, they all have schools, and, you know, they have these types of jobs. And we kind of get their interest from that we do a workshop group. And if they're interested, then we'll take them out to those communities, we'll do a site visit. And we'll go and look at the community and look at the settlement, bring them to the settlement agency. A lot of times, you know, like most recently, one, we went up to Gimli. We took like 12 people, they all came back, they all had jobs. 

Stuart Murray  37:28  
Really? 

Shane Henderson  37:29  
Within a day. Right? 

Stuart Murray  37:31  
Wow. 

Shane Henderson  37:31  
So it's okay, we want to move there. So we helped them get- let's grab all your belongings, we'll help you move out and find your place to stay and like so, you know, we've been able to do that with close to almost 300 people over a very short- like over a year. And we've helped settle into almost 14 different rural communities. And so now we've started to see some really great progress on that. So now we've opened it up. Why is it just Ukrainians? Let's do it for all refugees.

Stuart Murray  37:58  
For more- yeah, I mean, Ukrainian population of Manitoba is extremely welcoming. And it's extremely well known, and they've, the contributions they've made to this province are incredible. So, you know, nice to have that relationship, Shane, and nice to have the opportunity to- I mean, you know, the story of going to Gimli and having jobs that day. Are you kidding me? Like, what a great story.

Shane Henderson  38:18  
It's like that in every every community, and we get contacted on a regular basis from you know, people that are looking to hire people from rural communities. Can we come and do a talk and a seminar and talk about our work? You know? Absolutely. Right. So when we looked at this project, you know, a lot of times when we do settle people here in Winnipeg, they kind of get stuck in the north end. And that's not to say that the North End is bad by any means stuff like that. But it's it's the, you know, there's so many temptations to you know, here's a little bit of money. Oh, wait, you gotta use your food allowance to also pay for your rent, how are you going to survive? And sometimes, you know, I find in certain areas, we don't have that strong community feel. And so what we thought is, okay, well, we all know how, you know, I grew up in a small town in New Brunswick, and I knew what rural life was and the community aspect of that, why don't we try to give them you know, two or three years to settle in rural Manitoba get their footings and then, you know, if they choose to come back to Winnipeg, then they can choose different areas that they want to, you know, live and work in. Right? Instead of just saying, well, you're sorry, you're you can only afford to live in you know, this, this apartment and that's full of cockroaches and rodents and everything else and- see ya.

Stuart Murray  39:36  
Yeah, exactly. It's your new home. Welcome to it. 

Shane Henderson  39:39  
Yeah. 

Stuart Murray  39:39  
One of the things I wanted to just explore with you is that you know, you talk a lot about you love working with children and families and particularly in and around sport, whether that be baseball, fast pitch basketball, I think junior high school, all of those areas. And you know, when I read about a bit of your background is you love to use that mentorship, that coaching, to bring it to the workplace of what you're doing. Explain how you've been able to do that, and give us some examples of how that's made a difference, from your perspective to people working at Welcome Place, or families refugees that have come to Welcome Place. 

Shane Henderson  40:18  
Yeah so at a very young age, I was- I was- I had some really great coaches, to the point where I didn't have a lot of family support, but- but my coaches would sign me up for sports, they would take me to all my games and practices, and really instilled that leadership role and, and comfort and, you know, sense of belonging, you know, that that a lot of people get from sports. And those are things that I'm, you know, super passionate about is, you know, how do we educate, you know, people that are that are younger, and a youth and, and so forth? And how do we become a mentor? Right? How do we give back to what we were really passionate about. And, you know, that was one of the things I was always taught is, like, you're playing this sport, but, you know, there's, there's three things that you need to gain from it. One is like, okay, you're gonna get physical activity, right? You're gonna learn great skills in life, and all that stuff. But the third and most important is, what can you do to give back to that sport? So you know, and that's whether you become a volunteer coach, or mentor, and, you know, like, my kids started growing up, and, you know, I'd be coaching them at a very high level and, and stuff like that, but it's like, one of my parents, right, like, I shouldn't be doing that, like, you know, how about you find me some alumni have gone through this that are, you know, in their 20s and 30s, and have them coach and, and we can, I can just mentor, right? So I've always had that, you know, I grew up being mentored by coaches, and, you know, and being, like, you know, captains and all that kind of stuff. So I tried to bring that into our agency, to where, you know, like I said, like, 85% of our, you know, staff are refugees, and they've had that lived experience, but they don't always have that strong mentorship background on finances, and operations, and so forth. So a lot of what I bring back is, you know, I'll be mentoring our managers, our assistant directors and stuff like that, and teaching them, you know, the inner workings and how to do budgets, and how to, you know, make things you know, stretch the dollar as far as you can, and how to plan for things and how to look for the future. Like, you know, my job is executive directors, I'm very hands off and operations, I trust my managers to do their job, and can you know, that I'm always looking 5, 6, 7 years ahead. So it's how do I get them to be part of that, that thing and have that same vision? Right, we can't be always reactive, we have to, you know, let's try to be proactive and find weeds, you know, with this country is having this kind of conflict. Okay. Well, at some point, we know that we're going to need this language that at some level, because they're going to be coming, you know, you know, Afghanistan happened, right? You know, all of a sudden, we have 40,000 Afghans, well, who have anybody that speaks, you know, Dari, or whatever the other languages, and it's like, nope, so you know, you've got to always, you know, find ways to mentor and educate people and really share the things that you've learned. So I found ways to do that through sports. And now if I have that same thing to do at work, right, so for me, it's like, I go to work. I mentor, I teach, I help, you know, inspire people. And then in the evenings I do the same thing. 

Stuart Murray  43:25  
Yeah, that's fantastic. I just want to ask you one last thing before we hit the off ramp here. If there's one thing that somebody is listening to this Humans On Rights podcast, and they hear this name, Shane Henderson, and he's the Executive Director of Welcome Place. Is there one thing that you would want people to be left with a takeaway from this podcast that perhaps I haven't asked you about?

Shane Henderson  43:48  
I think it boils down to volunteering. I talked about myself being, you know, a volunteer, and the benefits of that, but volunteering in your community, volunteer for agencies like ours, volunteer for, you know, homeless people, whatever it might be, whatever piques your interest, just with a couple hours of your time. Get away from the TV, get away from electronics, go help somebody. So, you know, we really saw after the pandemic, like we lost a lot of volunteers, and it's been hard, and it struggled to rebuild that. But a lot of lot of nonprofits rely on volunteer people to come in and help them you know, what there were blown and the satisfaction you get with helping a nonprofit. So, if anybody listens to this, get out and volunteer.

Stuart Murray  44:38  
Where can somebody get information if they want to volunteer at Welcome Place?

Shane Henderson  44:42  
You can go to our website of www.MIIC.ca, so our legal name, Manitoba interfaith Immigration Council. And there's a volunteer form there so you can- you can volunteer for certain activities. We have great volunteers that come in and just run conversational circles, English computer classes, we started a new program like gardening, cooking classes, cooking classes is a big one for especially single men, because we're seeing lots of refugee claimants that are coming through that are single men, and don't know how to cook or use a stove. So there's lots of opportunity even to come down and help them with their claims. A lot of our staff, you know, we volunteer in our evenings, and we help out with those high volumes of claims and help them write their narratives. You know, it's really rewarding and you leave, it's like, man, like I said this earlier, we are so lucky to be in this in this country.

Stuart Murray  45:35  
Yeah. Well, listen, I want to thank you for your time. And I'll just say this, for somebody who has admittedly say they love numbers. I think you admittedly love people. And thank goodness you do because you're in a great position to share that. So Shane, thank you for spending some time with me on this Humans On Rights podcast. I really appreciate your time.

Shane Henderson  45:55  
That's great. Thank you for having me, Stuart.

Matt Cundill  45:57  
Thanks for listening to Humans On Rights. A transcript of this episode is available by clicking the link in the show notes of this episode. Humans On Rights. is recorded and hosted by Stuart Murray. Social media marketing by Buffy Davey. Music by Doug Edmund. For more, go to HumanRightsHub.ca. Produced and distributed by the Soundoff Media Company.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai