All the WOW events that I went to were great – WOW does give a sense of a community trying to improve its attraction and retention!

Caroline Andrew
Professor, University of Ottawa
I was happy to see integration to Algonquin territory and indigenous culture related programming in 2014 WOW. Please continue to involve local Aboriginal organisations and…

Linda Manning
WOW 2014 participant, Senior Fellow, University of Ottawa
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
The OLIP Council is committed to leadership.  In only a few years, we have a common vision and priorities, and are up to the task of implementing the Ottawa Immigration Strategy.

Salimatou Diallo
OLIP Council Vice Chair, Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario
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
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
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 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
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
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

Forum Overview

July 18, 2013
On June 27th, the 2nd Annual Ottawa Immigration Forum convened at the Delta Ottawa City Centre.  This year, the Forum was part of the inaugural Welcoming Ottawa Week (WOW) – a new initiative launched by OLIP and championed by the Mayor of Ottawa; and addressed the theme: “The Building Blocks…

Keynote Speech by Gerry Clement

July 18, 2013
The forum keynote speech was delivered by Gerry Clement, former Assistant Deputy Minister of Manitoba Labour and Immigration; and one of the principal architects of Manitoba’s highly successful strategy for attracting and retaining newcomers. The speech, named after the Forum theme:…

Moderated Panel Discussion on Attraction and Retention of International Students in Ottawa

July 18, 2013
International students constitute a major area of migration growth in Ottawa. At the end of 2012, the number of active international student visas in force, over 8,500, exceeded the intake of immigrants for that same year by some 2,500. Current domestic and international policy directions support the idea of students as a ‘preferred’ immigration…

Video interviews with Forum participants by Youth Futures students

July 17, 2013
Mingling through the crowd during the break times, young students of the Youth Futures program interviewed Forum participants to solicit their views on the main themes of the Forum: Is Ottawa a welcoming city? Should Ottawa seek to attract more international students? What organizations would need to collaborate to make Ottawa a more welcoming environment? The…