Interview: Naheed Nenshi on Syrian refugees and anti-Muslim attacks | Mcleans.ca

‘I think we’re going to show people who we are, our generosity of spirit, what we’re capable of’

Aaron Wherry – November 20, 2015 – Excerpt:

But today I had a meeting this morning where we had a community forum on refugees. And I was a little bit nervous walking in because it was an open invitation, anybody could come, and I thought there might be some angry people or people with a lot of very difficult questions. And who was there were churches and synagogues and temples and mosques and grandmothers and volunteers and people from across the community, who were just asking the same question, which is by the way still by far the most common question I get, how can I help? And at one point a First Nations woman stood up, I only knew that because she said, I am a First Nations woman. And I thought she was going to say, why are we having all this focus on these refugees when we have so many problems closer to home? And what she actually said was, I need some help. Because I need to understand how and when they’re coming because I want to make sure, and many of my First Nations colleagues, want to make sure that when these people come, we have an opportunity to have the elders there to drum them in and to do a smudge ceremony so we can welcome them to this land. I might have lost it at that point.

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