University of Calgary’s Newcomer Research Network, in collaboration with ActionDiginity, hosted their fourth Newcomer Research Symposium on Friday, Nov. 14. ActionDignity is a local advocacy group focused on making Calgary an equal and just city for all its residents.
Started in 2019 and hosted bi-annually, Newcomer Research Symposiums have been a space for academics and new Calgarians to come together and discuss how the experiences of those new to the city can inform future and ongoing research.
The 2025 symposium featured a variety of speakers covering many social issues and topics. Kesavan Sreeharan was one of these speakers. Sreeharan discussed newcomer employment and the unexpected challenges that exist for immigrants when they try to join the workforce.
He said the two main barriers new Calgarians face is not having any kind of professional network when arriving in Canada and employers not recognizing experience gained in their home country.
Sreeharan said he was able to start overcoming these challenges by volunteering and finding a community of people who had faced similar challenges and could offer him guidance.
“It was the emotional support too because it’s not easy. I had been working a lot in my country and here it was hard for me to even get an odd job just to survive,” said Sreeharan.
This year’s symposium also looks to leave people with more than just productive conversations. ActionDignity is using what they call action teams to take the information shared during the symposium and attempt to make workable plans and real world social change.
“Most of the time when you go to symposiums, we hear the findings, we come back home and that is it. This is going to be different,” said ActionDignity Executive Director Francis Boakye. “These teams are going to be working on addressing issues and solutions provided by participants.”
ActionDignity’s next event is the Youth Justice Knowledge Mobilization on Nov. 29.
