The first Tibetan refugees to arrive in Victoria under a federal resettlement program got more than a warm welcome from community members and Santa Claus at Victoria International Airport. They also received a few west coast essentials — tuques and umbrellas.
“They didn’t know who this bearded man in red was, but it was fun,” said Tsering Dolma from the Tibetan Cultural Society of Vancouver Island. She is one of several Victorians helping to sponsor five Tibetans to build new lives here. The Tibetan refugees are among 1,000 who will move to Canadian communities over the next two years.
In 2007, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama appealed to Canada to help Tibetans find permanent homes. Many have fled Tibet since China claimed the country in 1951. Three years after the appeal, the federal government committed to a resettlement program, overseen by Project Tibet Society.
“We hope to bring 50,” Dolma said. This would nearly triple Greater Victoria’s Tibetan community — which has about 20 people, including children. There are also a few Tibetans in Duncan.
Tenzin Tharpa and Sonam Chonzom arrived in Victoria on Saturday from Arunachal Pradesh, North India, where they’ve spent their entire lives stateless and unable to own land or get a passport. They were chosen to emigrate through a lottery system.
Chonzom, 44, lived in a Tibetan community where houses were made from bamboo and mud. Her husband, who was in the Indian army, will come to Victoria in February.
“It’s very beautiful and clean here,” she said. Dolma helped interpret for the pair at the Inter-Cultural Association Monday, as they signed up for English classes, social insurance numbers and medical insurance. Soon, they’ll look for places to live and work.
Tharpa, 28, is single and struggled to find opportunities in his village — where there were only a few Tibetan families. He helped out in his sister’s clothing shop. “Not many options,” he said in English.
Both Chonzom and Tharpa speak Hindi and a few English words, in addition to their native Tibetan.
“India has been very good to Tibetans, but it is not a permanent home,” said Dolma, who was raised in India. She was fostered by a Victoria couple who helped her through nursing school before bringing her to Victoria in 1996, when the only other Tibetan in town was an elderly monk.
“This is a great opportunity to help people who are stateless,” said Dorothy Field, part of the group that pooled finances to sponsor the Tibetans’ immigration. She sponsors siblings in Nepal and has volunteered in Dharamsala, where the Dalai Lama lives. “I think all of us have a connection story.”
Jampal Gyaltsen, president of the local Tibetan Cultural Society, was a Tibetan monk who left his country at 21, hiking through the mountains for a month to Nepal. He went to a monastery in South India and then became a newspaper reporter in Darjeeling before Canadian friends sponsored him to come to Victoria in 2002. He said he is happy to be able to help other Tibetans, including Chonzom and Tharpa, establish a life here as well. The society hopes other Victorians will step in as sponsors or donors.
For more information, visit: projecttibetsociety.ca.
