https://citiesofmigration.ca/ezine_stories/introducing-newcomers-to-indigenous-people/
It’s important to look at how New Zealand has integrated their Indigeous culture into their own because of how similar they are with Canada. They have set the bar so to speak with how much better Canada could be doing. In this article, Vancouver and Wellington, NZ program leaders met to discuss Indigenous and immigrant cross-cultural integration strategies. Both cities had conducted internal case studies, and later met together to discuss their findings and strategies. Wellington has a population 10x less than Vancouver, so not all strategies can be equally applied, but there were still identified strengths that both programs recognized about the other. Some of these included the following key quotes:
Wellington has appreciated learning from Vancouver about the positive sharing that can naturally occur if safe ”dialogue spaces” are created between indigenous and newcomer peoples. Specifically, we have understood the value of creating opportunities for newcomers and indigenous peoples to share their histories, experiences and culture, and find the similarities.
“The most important learning for new migrants from engagement with Maori is a better understanding of their history and culture (and possibly even learn a little of their language). This is an important aspect of newcomer integration into bi-cultural New Zealand.”
“Assimilation is not the New Zealand approach to settling newcomers.”
“Local Maori chose Marae-based activities that would provide the opportunities of achieving the goals for newcomer migrants by including them in local communities and workplaces and support the cultural differences they bring. In turn, newcomers learn to respect Maori values and way of life and care for the environment”
From what was shared about this conference, it seems as though Vancouver has in the past focused more heavily on providing spaces for dialogue, while New Zealand has focused more on Maori-led activities. This conference was in 2013, so it would be interesting to see if any immediate changes were implemented by either city.
References: https://citiesofmigration.ca/ezine_stories/introducing-newcomers-to-indigenous-people/
http://citiesofmigration.ca/good_idea/bringing-maori-culture-to-newcomers-the-wellington-regional-settlement-strategy/
http://citiesofmigration.ca/good_idea/the-vancouver-dialogues-project-where-the-gold-mountain-meets-turtle-island/