In our city’s history, immigrants have always played an important role. They build our economic prosperity, diversify our culture, contribute to our social vitality.

Jim Watson
Mayor of Ottawa
The target beneficiary of the work of OLIP is the whole community. In this short period we have planted together important seeds for Ottawa’s development.  

Dick Stewart
OLIP Council
My nomination is an indication that our hard work in building Canada is recognized. All we do is to serve the community in return for embracing us when we needed it.  

Mehdi Mahdavi
Ottawa Immigrant Entrepreneurship Awards Nominee
The work and expertise that OLIP brings to our community is so important as it helps us to build bridges and break down silos.  I look forward to our continued work together. 

Jim Watson, Mayor of Ottawa
The Ottawa Chinese Community Service Centre is so happy to have joined the OLIP Health and Wellbeing Sector Table. It is clear that OLIP cares about immigrants and refugees and…

Wendy Tang, Ottawa Chinese Community Service Centre
Canada has been shaped by people who came from all over the world to build this country. WOW offers a platform for us to celebrate this history and the future it will help…

Alex Munter, Chair of the OLIP Council and President and CEO of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and Ottawa Children’s Treatment Centre
OLIP helps to unite and share scarce resources for greater impact by working together in the field of student education.

Walter Piovesan
Associate Director of Education, Ottawa Carleton District School Board
We are very pleased to have done the “Opportunity Cost of Not Investing in Interpretation” report – it is so important to have clarity on these challenges and…

Hindia Mohamoud, Director, OLIP
The City of Ottawa will continue to play a lead role in the implementation of the Ottawa Immigration Strategy, just as we did in the founding of OLIP.

Steve Desroches
City Councillor and Deputy Mayor of Ottawa
I’m really impressed with the level of energy and commitment around the Health and Wellbeing table and look forward to continuing collaboration between OLIP and OPH.

Marcela Tapia
Ottawa Public Health

Meet the WOW 2016 Chairs

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Louisa Taylor is co-founder and director of Refugee 613, a grassroots coalition of agencies and individuals supporting Ottawa’s response to the global refugee crisis. Refugee 613 helps to inform, connect and inspire residents to improve the settlement and integration of refugees in the national capital. In her past life as an award-winning writer and editor, Louisa’s journalism appeared in the Ottawa Citizen, the Toronto Star and Maclean’s magazine, among others. Louisa is co-chair of Welcoming Ottawa Week,  an annual festival of events celebrating Ottawa’s immigrant community, founder of @datafestOTT which explore intersections between migration and new technology, and serves on the Advisory Committee on Social Innovation, which explores new policy ideas in settlement and integration for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

Louisa says: “I was honoured and excited to be invited to co-chair Welcoming Ottawa Week. It’s a fantastic opportunity to bring old and new Canadians together to celebrate what we have in Ottawa, and look ahead to the great city we’re building.”

 

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A translator by trade, Kenyan-born Sarah Onyango is a well-known fixture on Ottawa’s community media scene. She hosts the monthly African cultural program Fontonfrom, on Rogers TV Cable 22 – Ottawa as well as the weekly radio programs, Black on Black and Afrika Revisited on CHUO 89.1FM (University of Ottawa community radio). She is very active in the Black community in Ottawa, and has done a great deal to promote its people, organizations, causes and events. To make it easier for the Black community to stay connected, Sarah created a website called BlackOttawa411 which has become a virtual community “hub” of sorts. In addition to volunteering as a radio and television host and producer, Sarah has emceed and helped organize various community events as well as diplomatic functions. Sarah is also a board member of Black History Ottawa, where she is responsible for public relations and outreach activities. Since 2008, Sarah has also been a member of the United Way/Centraide Ottawa Community Builder Award Recognition team.

Sarah says: “I am thrilled and proud to have been asked to be a 2014 Welcoming Ottawa Week co-chair! This community-building initiative provides an ideal platform for Canada’s capital city to show off one of its most precious resources: its people! What a fabulous way to celebrate the many diverse immigrant experiences and contributions that make Ottawa such a dynamic city!”