PRESS RELEASE - Immigration Connection Celebrates Fifth Year

Guelph Wellington Local Immigration Partnership will once again be hosting its annual Immigration Connection event a week from today at the Hanlon Convention Centre. Amongst the questions you will have is where is the Hanlon Convention Centre, because not a week goes by that someone doesn't stop at the front desk of the hotel I work at wondering where it is. (It's in the plaza at the corner of Woodlawn and the Hanlon. The same one as the Good Will, around the corner where the Three Star Cinema used to be.) And that's the one piece of information you won't get from the press release below.

Here's the press release from the City of Guelph:

Guelph, On, March 6, 2015 – The Guelph Wellington Local Immigration Partnership (GWLIP) will host its fifth annual Immigration Connection event on Friday, March 13.

This free event, open to all community members, is an opportunity for newcomers, community leaders, local businesses, agencies and service providers to learn about how Guelph and Wellington County can be reinvented to be more welcoming and attractive to immigrants.

Guest speaker Ratna Omidvar, executive director, Global Diversity Exchange at Ryerson University, and recipient of the Order of Canada, will highlight the need for communities and businesses to reinvent themselves to welcome immigrants.

Other speakers will give talks on important changes to the immigration system, benefits of hiring immigrants and immigrant entrepreneurship, importance of integration, access to services, implications of granting permanent residents to the right to vote in municipal elections, and social inclusion. A group of local immigrants will share their personal immigration stories and discuss some of the challenges and successes they encountered in coming to Guelph and Wellington County.

During the event the GWLIP will also present an overview of its work and accomplishments including the Global Talent Initiative—a way to reach out to businesses to raise awareness about the benefits of hiring immigrants.

To pre-register for the event, visit guelphwellingtonlip.ca.

What
The Immigration Connection 2015

Who
Ratna Omidvar, Executive Director, Global Diversity Exchange at Ryerson University

Where
Hanlon Convention Centre
340 Woodlawn Road, Guelph

When
Friday, March 13
9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Registration begins at 8:30 a.m.

The GWLIP is funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada and hosted by the City of Guelph.