Nashville mayor shares immigration tips with New Brunswick

Nashville Mayor Karl Deen is advising local governments in New Brunswick to work with local non-profit groups to make newcomers feel welcome.

Deen says in the past decade, Nashville has become a resettlement city for 13,000 Kurdish refugees but has also seen a significant number of immigrants from countries including Somalia, Ethiopia and Egypt. 

"It's been good for our community, it has enriched our community," he said in an interview Wednesday on Information Morning Moncton.

"Immigrants tend to be very entrepreneurial, they create small businesses, they come to the country with their hopes and dreams and I think that's the real positive thing."

Deen is taking part in a Fredericton conference on immigration put on by the New Brunswick Multicultural Council.

Deen says his city has been very successful at attracting and accepting immigrants and refugees, with the population of Nashville going from two per cent foreign-born to 12 per cent in the past decade.

Any way you can make sure people are welcomed and embraced is a key way to make your city attractive to immigrants.- Nashville Mayor Karl Deen

He says local governments need to work with local non-profit groups to make all newcomers feel welcome.

"Many of the Kurds who are in Nashville now settled somewhere else but they heard good things about Nashville from other Kurds and they have moved to Nashville and I think they've enriched our community," Dean said.

He says the city has also seen significant growth in immigration from both Mexico and Central America.

"In our public schools in Nashville we have over 100 languages spoken and so one of the things that we do is we create a partnership program where immigrants who have already gone through the school system work with families that are new to the school system to make sure they adjust."

"Any way you can make sure people are welcomed and embraced is a key way to make your city attractive to immigrants," Dean said.

Nashville has also created what Dean calls a "city academy" which sets up corners in parks and recreation centres where programs are offered to teach immigrants about how the city works and how you can interact with city departments.

He says when newcomers choose your city as the place where they want to raise their family and try to achieve their dreams, it is the highest compliment you can get.

Wednesday afternoon the mayors of Moncton, Dieppe, Edmundston, Black's Harbour and the deputy mayor of Fredericton will take part in a panel discussion about the role communities play when it comes to including newcomers.