Volunteer Profile: Soumava
When Soumava Mukherjee moved to Toronto, the first thing he needed to do was figure out how to eat. He’d arrived from India in the summer of 2020, in the midst of a pandemic, and was obligated to quarantine at an Airbnb. Buying groceries in-person was out of the question, so he worked out how local grocery delivery systems work. He’d spent months preparing to immigrate to Toronto, diligently enrolling in a pre-arrival program run by ACCES Employment, a Canadian employment services organization. The pandemic had complicated things, though. Thankfully, it wasn’t the first time he’d moved away from home. A few years earlier, he’d spent four months in France for an exchange semester during his postgrad. Moving to Toronto was different, because he’d come to work and settle, but he wasn’t a doe in the forest.
When his quarantine was done, he immediately enrolled in a full-time program for newcomers, also run by ACCES, which helped him build his professional networks. Lasting two months, the program was heavily focussed on finding employment and was run in partnership with Humber College. During that time, he wanted to find other resources to help him thrive. He was ambitious and hard-working, a high achiever who’d been an executive assistant to a pharmaceutical CEO back in Mumbai, but life is more than work. As he was browsing Twitter, taking stock of the resources available to newcomers, he saw Harbourfront Centre. He didn’t know what it was, though he’d seen its campus during a walking tour he’d gone on.
He learned that it was participating in a new project, Canada Connects, in partnership with CultureLink, a settlement and community services organization. The idea behind Canada Connects was simple: pair local volunteers with newcomers to create an informal mentorship program. Participants would be broken up into groups of four, with three newcomers paired with one mentor. He was part of the first cohort of this program. Every week, they’d meet virtually for two hours. There wasn’t a fixed schedule or discussion topics set by the program. Everything was fluid and informal. The first week was dedicated to introductions. In later meetings, they’d present about their home countries, or discuss what to expect from Canadian weather, and what the different parts of Toronto are like. The open-endedness of the conversations filled an important gap, because it encouraged social and cultural integration outside the lens of employment.
The program lasted four months. During this time, Soumava found employment. In fact, he was offered a job almost immediately after completing his newcomer program with ACCES, becoming a branch manager at a financial services company. He noticed that there was a newsletter committee at Harbourfront Centre and so he reached out to Saskia, our Volunteer Manager, and asked how he could get involved. Together, they figured out that it would be a great idea if he wrote an article about the Canada Connects program. He interviewed other participants in the program and had the article published in December. In the span of a few months, he’d gone from being just a participant in Canada Connects to actively championing its value.
On top of his experience with Canada Connects, Soumava also participated in Harbourfront Centre’s mental health check in program. Within this program, volunteers sign up for shifts where they email or call other volunteers, combatting the sense of isolation that can creep up on people during this pandemic. Just like with Canada Connects, he found the informality and sociability useful. “It was quite a brilliant experience,” he says, noting that he could ask people any question he wanted, that there was an air of friendliness and that he didn’t feel stifled by pressure — he could just interact with people at his own pace.
All in all, Soumava’s experience with Harbourfront Centre helped fill a void in his newcomer journey. Arriving in Toronto in the middle of a pandemic, he didn’t know anyone in the country and had to face immense barriers when it came to building a new circle of connections. Other programs helped him get on his feet professionally, but Harbourfront Centre helped him orient himself socially and culturally. Its programs were genuinely fun, and he characterizes them as a kind of club. He keeps in touch with his Canada Connects group — they still reach out to each other sometimes, share important news and memes. He hopes to meet his mentor in real life when the pandemic is over. He wishes he could volunteer more in person and eagerly awaits those opportunities, but that will come in time. Until then, he’s happy to be contributing to society. As he puts it, “I can vouch that volunteers will enjoy it here and get the satisfaction that you’re actually contributing and helping society at large.”
