My name is Miriam Maure Gonzales. When I got married I left my two last names so I am now Miriam Maure. I was born in Columbia and I grew up in a family of 7. My father passed away when I was only 9. My mother had extended family support, especially my grandfather, who meant a lot to us. He was taking the role of father, and was always there for us economically and physically; telling childhood histories and all he did to grow up and have the wealth he had. It was not easy but he was very persistent. He always said try hard to get what you want. My mother said she would not leave money with us but education. “If you have education you have a big tool in life. You will not get rich but help others.” So since I was small I was always trying to help others less fortunate than us.
I finished high school and went into social worker. I went to Spain to do my Master in Clinical Psychology.
Why I am in Canada? I was engaged to fellow from Switzerland who got a job in Vancouver. He came here and fell in love with Vancouver. He said “you have to come.” When I decided to come to Canada was a big change in my life. It was a difficult time. Economically we were struggling. In my mind, I would never look back to luxury and comfort I left behind in Columbia. I would look ahead and try my best in this country.
It was very difficult. I did not like English. The weather was difficult to adjust. I came from a place where the sun shines almost 24 hours, Here it was very different I had no friends, no family. I only had my music and my husband. But I I tried to see the beauty of Vancouver. And push myself to go for a walk and took walks to see different things here, especially safety. It was not safe where I came from.
When the kids were 3 or 4 years old, I started looking for what I can do. It took long time to speak language and feel comfortable to communicate. I started doing volunteer work in a seniors’ house. I was going around 6 o’ clock when my husband got home from work I was doing nails to ladies, fixing their hair and I started feeling I was doing something. After that I went to a community centre and they offered me the chance to look after the little ones when the moms were doing aerobics. So most of the week I was busy. I was going to English classes 2 times a week in the evening.
During this time, I was going back and forth to Columbia every 2 yearsLast time I went, in 1977, I met one of the doctors I was working with. He was like a mentor to me. He said I should go back to school fulltime, learn the language properly and start doing what you were doing here.
I went to Douglas College (now Kwantlen) and was referred to a course designed for women. The object of the course was to train you so you could apply for a job in Canada.
The supervisor spoke with Mosaic so I went there and did 1 month of volunteer work. I really liked the organization. At that time they had a new director who was very nice with me, She said your English is not good but I will give you a chance to do volunteer work. What would you like to do? During the month I was there, I saw many new refugees from Chile and Central America. I said why don’t’ we start a group for women. They can bring the children and we can find a teacher to teach them English. I tried six months of volunteer then the director offered me a part-time job. I was really pleased because when I came to Canada I did not have information and I always wanted to do something for new immigrants, provide information and empower them to be successful in Canada
The Mosaic job was a dream come true. I worked there for 17 years. At first I was providing Settlement services one to one. But I was always oriented to community work. And I said “why don’t we explore a little bit of funding?” I saw 2 big needs. One was for seniors. They were coming to Canada to look after children but they were very isolated. When kids were growing up, they did not want grandma looking after them. I noticed many were depressed. We approached New Horizons with nice proposal and got funding for 3 or 5 years. This provided me with resources to have a coordinator for the group.
After that, we started receiving refugees from Central America, very traumatized single moms. We approached the Ministry of Social Services for funding to start a mothers group. This group is still running up to now. They meet twice a week. From that group I saw different needs of women, They were middle age, not seniors, not young mothers. With the Health Department, we started a middle-aged group.We were meeting twice a month to provide information on changes of life, changes of your body, what you can do.
In all the groups, I tried to focus on the potential of what the people want to do and encourage them to go to English classes.
I am very pleased to see that there are at least 5 Spanish seniors groups in Vancouver.
I did not stop there. I started seeing the needs in Richmond. Many of my friends were very unhappy, they wanted to do something. We applied for funding from New Horizons and hired a coordinator for 2 years and since that, one smart brilliant senior who had a lot experience in administration, excellent English knew the skills seniors need to run it by themselves. We tried to empower these women, give them tools. Now it is the only group that runs by itself and they are very interested in doing projects.
When I was working with community, my goal was to work together with different community workers. I always thought that if the community was united, we can do more. If workers cooperate, we can produce more and our results will be more positive and the people will be empowered. I started the Latin American Community Council. All the workers from the community met once a month to discuss projects and share information on projects we had. My message for the community is: work together and the results will be more positive.
What does multiculturalism mean to me? For me, it is the union of different groups with different customs, different religions but we are working together. The differences of colour, religions and background doesn’t mean anything, What means is what we are and what we can do for the rest of the group. This is the beauty of Canada that we accept each other and try to help each other. I hope the new generation don’t think too much about me, myself.
One of the things I try to share and encourage all the seniors is talk to your grandchildren about your past, where you come from, what are the things you things you did when you were small. I think it is very important for seniors to talk to grandchildren and talk to them in their language. Also be proud of your culture, your food.