Build a Village in Altona had a visitor last week.
Mauro Peressini Ph.D., Curator of Social History for the Canadian Museum of History in Ottawa, met with local Syrian refugee families to document their stories.
Build a Village Founder Ray Loewen said Peressini's work brought him to the area.
"The Canadian Museum of History is interested in documenting sort of everything that happens in Canada," explained Loewen. "Now they're interested in documenting, and hearing the stories, recording the stories of people who have come from Syria."
Peressini heard about Syrian families coming to Altona, and made contact with the town.
"This was sort of an introductory trip, so he spent most of his time here just introducing himself, introducing the project, talking to families about what his plans were... and for those families that are willing to have their stories documented... his plan is to do that in the fall," said Loewen.
Loewen explained the documented stories will be archived in the Canadian Museum of History.
"Some of the information could also be used in the future for things like articles, for things like displays in the museum, etc. I think at this point nobody is sure exactly what the information will be used for, but there are various possibilities down the road."
One of the things that attracted Peressini to Altona was a statistic saying Syrian refugees make up 1 per cent of Altona.
"When the Syrian refugees first came a couple of years ago, Altona got some national recognition as Syrian refugees would make up 1 per cent of our population. So, there were 45 refugees that came at that time, and basically they made up 1 per cent of our population, and he got to thinking about that... he used the example that 1 per cent of Montreal's population, just as an example, would be twenty thousand people," said Loewen.
Peressini is planning to come back in fall to spend more time with Altona's families from Syria.
Sat, Apr 20, 8:24 AM
Transport, Full-time
Featured
