ARICHAT - One of the key ambassadors for settlement efforts in Cape Breton feels local residents are becoming more welcoming to newcomers as the new decade begins. 

Trina Samson is the Immigration Settlement Officer for the YREACH program, a spinoff of the Cape Breton YMCA. From her office at the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre, her duties - mainly centered on Richmond and Inverness Counties - include introducing newcomers to potential employers, helping them with the paperwork for such activities as getting a valid Nova Scotia drivers' license, and visiting with children who are often settling into their first school classroom in which the majority of students and teachers don't speak their native tongue.  

"If you speak our primary language of English or French, you can get by in our communities, but if that's not your primary language, you'll face a lot of challenges. And language is so important for so many people," Samson pointed out. 

She added that projects like the Atlantic Immigration Pilot, introduced in 2017 by the federal and provincial governments, are helpful on several levels, since many people emigrating to Cape Breton are entrepreneurs that wind up employing Canadian-born people. 

In the meantime, Samson is pleased with the support of local municipalities for her efforts and those of others helping immigrants to fit in. She pointed to the Town of Port Hawkesbury, which raised the official flag of the Philippines outside the Civic Centre last June in conjunction with a potluck and dance demonstration held by the Strait Area Filipino Society (SAFS). This coming June, Samson and her office are partnering with the town and the Municipality of the County of Richmond to host a wide-ranging Multicultural Festival that will reach several community venues and incorporate a variety of nationalities and cultures, including the indigenous Mi'kmaq culture that is so prominent in Cape Breton Island.