Immigration Views from Brandon, MB

Last weekend, I cherished 24 hours in Brandon, one of the 14 designated participants in the Rural Community Immigration Pilot (RCIP).

I’ve known Brandon all my life. It’s the economic hub of southwestern Manitoba, the province’s second-largest city. Less than 100km from my family’s farm, it’s where I saw my first movie in theatres (The Lion King!), went to the mall as a teenager, and ultimately went to university.

I lived in Brandon in the 2000s as an undergraduate and then for two summers as sessional faculty. My alma mater Brandon University has seen changes since my time due to growth in Canada’s International Student Program. More broadly, immigration has reshaped the city. In two decades, the population has grown from about 40,000 to nearly 60,000 today. As of the 2021 census, 17% of Brandonians were born outside of Canada.

Igor and I stayed overnight as part of my birthday celebration. I scheduled brunch with one of my many university teacher friends who keeps me informed on the K-12 system, dropped in for a class at always-welcoming Rocked Community Fitness, checked out two new local breweries (ever tasted a Rhubarb Sour?!), and savoured a bison burger while sitting outside on a warm Manitoba summer night, the light lingering until 11pm.

As we walked the historic streets of downtown Brandon, I took note of the international spice/grocery stores that have popped up to serve the taste preferences of newcomers from south Asia, central America, and Africa. I stopped in at Latinos Market Brandon to buy a box of Pulparindo, the Mexican tamarind candy from Mexico that has been my obsession for a decade.

 After seeing a poster for an exhibit of oil paintings at the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, we visited an exhibit by Opeyemi Olukotun, a local artist who migrated from Nigeria two years ago.

One line from the exhibit notes that stood out was Olukotun’s insistence on the singularity of his experience as an immigrant:

“much like grief, no matter how many other people have experience the confusion, exhaustion, boredom, elation, and frustration of immigration, the experience is singular. And, much like grief, that makes it precious.” I left the exhibit full of emotion and questions, the oil-painted faces of other newcomers in Brandon sitting with me still now.  

Before departing Manitoba’s second-largest city to return to the family farm for birthday cake and mom’s homemade pizza, I got a quick haircut and quintessential “Friendly Manitoba” conversation with my barber.

He moved from Brazil four years ago, accompanying his wife who was an international student at Assiniboine Community College He was delighted to learn that I’d visited Sao Paulo, near where he grew up. His biggest pride is that he and his wife just bought a house, only four years after their arrival. The Brazilian diaspora is small in Brandon: he estimates 25 families. A few of them have trouble with the winter, but most are like him: adaptable, resilient, and eager to embrace a new chapter of their lives in a new home country.

To learn more about Brandon’s sector and labour market priority list as part of the RCIP, see here: https://economicdevelopmentbrandon.com/rcip/rcip-sector-labour-market-priorities-list

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Migration is more than a One-Way Journey