WOW – what a beginning!
June 24, 2014By Louisa Taylor, WOW 2014 honorary Co-Char
What a fantastic start to Welcoming Ottawa Week 2014! On Monday we launched at City Hall,with Mayor Jim Watson and more than 100 supporters on hand to celebrate on a beautiful sunny morning. We ate, we networked, we talked about what it means to be a welcoming city, but most of all we honoured our 11 Welcoming Ottawa Week Ambassadors, Ottawa residents who have reached out to build relationships with newcomers and exemplified the welcoming spirit our city needs to thrive.
Then we unveiled the Stories and Faces of a Welcoming City photo exhibit, our way of drawing attention to these ordinary people who help immigrants feel welcome in Ottawa. Dwayne Brown’s gorgeous portraits of immigrants from Colombia, Morocco, Japan and elsewhere posing with their WOW Ambassadors filled the soaring space of Jean Pigott Place with life and vitality.
We’re thrilled that the exhibit will be on display at City Hall throughout this week – so get yourself downtown to see the photos and be inspired – if they can do it, you can do it!
Be sure to check out our calendar of events. Today you can choose from so many activities — Art Exhibition by Immigrant Women, Indigenous Walking Tour, “It Worked for Me!” Job Search Success Stories and Networking Event, and a focus group discussion to help develop Ottawa’s Municipal Sport Strategy: “Sport Open to Everyone”, to name a few.
Come join us, and be WOWed!