In Conversation With ...Fariborz Birjandian
In 1988, Fariborz Birjandian came to Canada as a refugee. Within two weeks, he was working as a volunteer for The Red Cross, offering support to survivors of torture. Two months later, he was hired as a settlement counsellor with Calgary Catholic Immigration Society (CCIS); for two years after that, he assumed the role of Manager of Business Employment and Technical Services with CCIS.
The pace at which Fariborz started his life in Canada has not abated in the past 20 years. Over the past two decades, he has continued to be an agent for positive change, working tirelessly to promote the healthy, fruitful, and respectful integration of newcomers to Canada. Currently, Fariborz is the Executive Director of CCIS, a position he has held since 1994. During his tenure, Fariborz has brought CCIS from an agency of 65 staff of 10 offering programs at two Calgary locations to its present capacity of 180 staff and 1300 volunteers offering 72 programs and services at eight locations in Calgary and one in High River.
Among his many accomplishments in this role, he has:
- led the development of Reception House in Calgary
- provided leadership throughout the province in building capacity in the settlement sector
- developed strong relationships with the business community that resulted in the ability to help immigrants find jobs - even during the 80’s when the unemployment rate was as high as 11%
- led the country in conceptualizing and developing the first bridging programs for professionals in 1993 with the launch of the Engineering Upgrading program – a 6- month bridging program to integrate internationally educated engineers into the labour market. Starting with a partnership of four engineering firms, CCIS now delivers this program with the help of 100 partnerships in the sector.
- continued to develop professional programs to address the needs of professionals and today offers programs for millwrights, electricians, bank tellers, drillers, chefs, and seismologists.
Within the walls of CCIS, he continues his charmed work while simultaneously reaching out into the broader community as a strong leader and passionate advocate for social justice and equity for newcomers and all Canadians.
Brilliant, energetic, and passionate, Fariborz was not content with success in just one forum. For many of us it would seem that the scope of his work as Executive Director at a thriving settlement agency would allow little time for other services to the community; not so for Fariborz. For six of the past 10 years, he has held the post of chairperson of Alberta Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies (AAISA). AAISA is an organization which represents and serves immigrants and refugees as well as the agencies that serve them.
AAISA facilitates the growth of immigrant serving agencies and their professionals as well as advocates on behalf of immigrants and refugees in Canada.
Under his guidance, AAISA has moved from being a small grassroots organization of committed volunteers with zero funding to its present capacity of two full-time staff. AAISA provides a strong and united voice for immigrants and has raised the profile of immigrant and settlement issues across the province. AAISA works very closely with all levels of government, mainstream agencies, ethno-cultural communities, and business communities across Alberta. Fariborz believes these important ties have been strengthened through the development of better relationships between and among sectors, community, especially smaller centres, as well as through the establishment of guidelines for the settlement sector.
One of his crowning glories in that capacity has been his involvement in developing the training modules for the Settlement Practitioner Accreditation Program. Launched in 2005, this training and accreditation is the only such program for settlement practitioners in Canada and is an important step in fulfilling AAISA’s goal of promoting the recognition of settlement and integration work as a profession.
In his 20 years of active service, Fariborz has witnessed many trends and has a lived experience of the changing tides of immigration in Canada. While he recognizes that immigration has always been an important cornerstone in the building of Canada, he points to the changing face of immigration, especially in the past 10 years. While in the past, immigrants stemmed largely from European countries, today’s newcomers come from a new variety of host countries, with the distribution being approximately 15% from European countries and the rest from more non-traditional regions. As a result, the face of Canada’s immigrant population is becoming more visibly diverse. This, Fariborz claims, is changing the name of the game in the settlement sector, which in turn has resulted in a cultural shift in the sector, the community, and the nation.
In speaking with Fariborz, one senses a hardworking humility that is full of hope for our collective future. He speaks with effervescence about the accomplishments over time of the settlement sector, but is equally energized with the work still to be done. For example, he notes that there is still no national immigrant voice in Canada, something he will do his best to change before he hangs up his hat. As he reflects on his work over the past 20 years, Fariborz says, “Newcomers to Canada are really no different now than they were 200 years ago. They all come here with their hopes and their fears - as people, and as communities. “If we want to ensure that the immigration experience is a positive one, we have to identify those fears and eliminate them; identify those hopes and build on them.”
Fariborz Birjandian
Alberta Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies
www.aaisa.ca/files/about_aaisa.html
Judy Sillito