Secretariat of the Forum on Minority Issues Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Geneva, November 2012 Minority Issues on the Rise: A Canadian Prairie Perspective I want to thank the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and in particular the Independent Expert on Minority Issues for inviting me to present at the Forum this week and for facilitating my travel to Geneva. My name is Belma Podrug; I am from Saskatoon, a small city in the heart of Western Canada and like so many others in Saskatoon, I moved there from Bosnia in 1994. The reasons for moving to Canada are as varied as the people making the move. People move for political reasons, for economic reasons, to reunite with family, for reasons of personal safety. For the past fourteen years, I have been Executive Director of the Global Gathering Place. We exist to assist with the enormous task of integration by providing skills-building, language, and networking opportunities. We provide services to approximately 1500 immigrants every year from 110 different countries in a way that respects their rights and dignity, free from discrimination. In my experience, the ideals and principles of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious, and Linguistic Minorities are not well known to the clients we assist but they form an overarching basis of our programming and are a part of the core beliefs and principles of our organization. In our small way, we work constantly to spread awareness of the Declaration while promoting and protecting the rights of our clients, all of whom belong to minority communities. Most importantly, we listen to minorities’ concerns. We recognize that they have an enormous depth of experiences, wisdom, and abilities. We work to support their independence by empowering them with knowledge and by offering a range of services which avoid labeling their needs. When we hear similar needs repeated, we take additional steps by introducing new programming, by approaching funders, by engaging our contacts in all levels of government. Minorities have so much to contribute. Through them, our cities achieve political and social stability. In spite of many successes, minorities still need help. Canada’s constitution identifies our country as officially multicultural and bilingual. On a government level this is true; however, on the ground, newcomers continue to suffer discrimination and bigotry. Housing or employment can be more difficult to obtain if you have an accent or a non-Canadian sounding name. In preparation for this forum, we reviewed the 2009 recommendations from the Independent Expert and considered them in the context of the work our agency does in serving newcomers and immigrants. I speak for minorities today when I say that many of the issues reported in 2009 continue to be in the forefront of their experience. 2