The Burnaby Intercultural Planning Table is organizing a storytelling project so refugees and new immigrants can share their tales with the community.
"It's like a living legacy, an oral piece that supports the work we are doing," said Jody Johnson, the table's project coordinator. "Every single time we can give our newest residents a voice, it supports them and their attachments to the community."
The storytelling project includes training for new immigrants and refugees living in Burnaby, with an intermediate to advanced level of English. The storytelling training lasts 12 hours, and participants must be able to conduct two public performances over the next 10 months.
The Burnaby Intercultural Planning Table is a consortium of groups and agencies that coordinate help for local refugees and immigrants.
According to Johnson, the project participants will be invited to share their stories, where appropriate, at future planning table events, either as individuals or as a panel. There will also be chances for the general public to hear the stories, but times and locations haven't been decided yet. Johnson said the stories may also be translated and shared with ethnic media outlets.
Johnson said that real live stories c
an be inspiring.
"That could bring people to take action or help them shift their attitude or change perspective on some of the issues," she said. "It puts a face to all this theory we read about, that's the idea behind it."
While refugees often come to Canada with traumatic stories of escaping war and political strife, the stories they create through the project could be metaphorical and not necessarily be literal or biographical.
People interested in the storytelling training can attend one of two upcoming information sessions. The first is Monday, May 27, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The second is Wednesday May 29, from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Both will be held at Nikkei Place, at 6688 Southoaks Cres. (To register, go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BIPT_Storytelling_InfoSessions.) Naomi Steinberg, executive director of the Vancouver Storytelling Society, will provide training for those selected to participate.
