They used to say you can't fight city hall. Now city hall wants to do a better job of reaching out to residents, especially newcomers and recent immigrants to Canada.
Next Wednesday, Sept. 21, the city of Coquitlam is hosting a Welcome to Coquitlam event, where people can learn about city services and ways to get involved.
Community planning manager Bruce Irvine said he expects about 100 people to show up to the event where they will meet staff from different departments and listen to presentations. Members of the city's multicultural advisory committee will be on had to help with translation as many of those attending are expected to speak languages other than English.
Participants are expected to come from ESL classes or be referred by members of the multicultural advisory committee.
Irvine said the Welcome to Coquitlam event is just one of several initiatives recommended by the committee to respond to the city's changing demographic. Some 37 different languages are spoken in the city, he said.
"It's the city of Coquitlam making extra efforts to make sure all the people are served," Irvine said.
Other things the city is doing to be more inclusive is being more culturally-sensitive in its hiring practices, making sure communication is in user-friendly English, hosting tours of city hall and training staff to be more culturally-aware.
The Welcome to Coquitlam event at city hall next week will take place from 2 to 7:30 p.m. City hall is located at 3000 Guildford Way, Coquitlam. More information is available at www.coquitlam.ca/welcome.
