My name is Maggie Ip. I was born in Shanghai, China, then my family moved to Hong Kong when I was in elementary school. So I actually did go through immigration experience even though Hong Kong was once part of China but It was a British Colony at that time. I grew up in Hong Kong and studied elementary, secondary and university. When I finished university, I had the opportunity to come to Canada for a master degree program. I arrived not knowing that the university was in Ottawa. I arrived in Vancouver and realized I had I 3,900 miles more to travel. I traded my air ticket for a railway ticket and I saw the landscape of Canada and was really amazed at the vast land Canada is.
I arrived in Ottawa and went to Ottawa University for my master in education and had really good experience. My university life in Ottawa was quite adventurous. Ottawa is bilingual. You don’t only have to master English but also come across French quite a bit. That was quite a challenge for me. I arrived in the 60s. At that time, most university students did hold part-time jobs to support their living. Foreign students were able to get part-time jobs quite easily. I applied to be a Salesperson in a department store. My experience was really interesting. I went to the Personnel Department and was interviewed right away and.got the job right away. I was so happy. I realized it was a fair society and that gave me a good impression of Canada. It was a place so open; you get a job right away and you are treated fairly.
I was lucky and pretty happy about the kind of treatment I got. As foreign student, I was planning to go back to Hong Kong because with my Masters degree I would probably get a decent teaching job. I was ready to go back but in 1967 there was social unrest because of what happened in China with the Cultural Revolution. My family suggested I wait and see how things are. Everybody was quite uncertain about the future of Hong Kong. I said okay, let’s find out what I can do. At that time, for a foreign student, as soon as you get your degree, you are able to get your immigration paper right away. I got a job with the Canadian government. It was my second really lucky and pleasant experience. That gave me the impression that the Canadian government values the knowledge and skills of people and that if anybody shows interest and commitment to know more about Canada, they value that and they will give you the chance.
With these 2 experiences I had, that made me feel Canadian.This is my home, my country like to share my positive experience and outlook about new place and how you can fit in and adjust.
I was lucky but not everybody was as lucky and have the same experience. This is why when my family moved to Vancouver because my husband also worked with the government but he got transferred. I had a pleasant experience in Vancouver and thought this was a good choice. I had to quit government job because no there was no similar position. I was a full-time mom.
I started out being a volunteer. First I was on the board of the YWCA.The staff reported to the board saying that they were overwhelmed with new immigrants coming from Hong Kong to the extent that they not equipped and needed help. I thought maybe I could help as a volunteer, I helped with translations, whatever. I started going and met lot of new immigrants. I found out their problems and needs and I organized workshops for information. I got to know lots of Chinese in the Strathcona area and in Chinatown because I contacted a lot of professionals like doctors, nurses, lawyers etc. so they could come t o talk about health, laws, etc.
We had a lot of similar experience and ideas so started to think that we needed comprehensive service for new immigrants.We started to talk about the ideal kind of service delivery pattern. We talked to social workers in the community,. We started with a core of 10 – 15 people who would meet often and talk about what we can do. Finally we wrote a couple of proposals to the government for funding because we realized we could not depend on volunteers all the time and we had to have a corps of professionals to coordinate these programs. We asked for funding from the Health and Welfare Department for a demonstration project called Chinese Connection, a 3 year project because 1 year would not be not beneficial at all. Because of funding, we had to have a non-profit org so we decided to form our own. We decided to start out and hire really professional social workers. In 1973, SUCCESS was formed and registered in Victoria as a non-profit organization. In 1974, we opened our first office on Main street, a small 300 sq ft office with 5 fulltime staff. We opened our door and started out this SUCCESS service.
We were very happy that we decided to use the acronym SUCCESS. The full name is Society of United Chinese Community Enrichment Social Services, a mouthful because we wanted to make sure the name says what we do. Nobody wants to have a long name so we saw it looked like “success” we loved it!
In our proposal to government, 2 major concepts or principles not only helped government realize what we really wanted to do but also kept the SUCCESS mandate and direction very clear to everybody. First, immigrants are resources and assets to Canada. We wanted everybody understand that immigrants come here to make a contribution. Their skills and knowledge should be treasured
Second, Canada is an immigrant country. Everybody has the responsibility of helping immigrants, including government and mainstream organizations. If you look at the logo of SUCCESS, it is actually a bridge with the reflection of another bridge – 2 bridges. We see ourselves as a bridge for new immigrants to walk to the other side, the host country. At same time, we also serve as a bridge for the host community to understand what new immigrants go through and to know a little more about immigrants. It takes effort on two side to make Canada what it is today. It is a win/win situation.
If you look at the services of SUCCESS, yes, our main mandate is to help new immigrants. However, it is difficult to define who is new and who is old. So we have very comprehensive services. Anybody can walk in and we can say this is how we can help you, including seniors. We have now developed seniors housing and other services because we realize some of these seniors have been here a long time. We realize that as you get older, your language and daily life start going back to your native language and culture. These seniors do need culturally-appropriate services so that their senior years are made easier and they have a better quality of life
The principles we have is we want everybody, regardless of new immigrant, old immigrant, local born, is able to enjoy what Canada is all about and get the best of everything. .
I must say that I don’t see it as my personal accomplishment. When we started we had a group of 10 -15 same minded people.The Idea came from all, not just from me. Because I was a fulltime mom, I had more time so I became the founding chair, took up the leadership position. My personal accomplishment was I was able to work with lots of people. For 35 years, thousands of people, board, staff, volunteers, members - we have 22,000 members - everybody has made SUCCESS what it is today. The contribution they make, the commitment they have. That’s why I say our two principles gather everybody; everybody can say I can identify with that. This is important to me and maybe I should be part of it. That’s the reason we have been successful in terms of the recognition we have in the community, the trust of those who support us with their donations.
Once we have the direction identified as the right direction and we were able to stay on course for the last 35 years and expanded our services. Now we have 20 offices in the lower mainland. Starting this month, we will have 2 overseas offices – Seoul and Taipei. These offices will provide pre-settlement services. New immigrants will be given information and assistance before they arrive in Canada. .
My advice to any new immigrants is, first of all, believe in ourselves. We are resources, assets. Our skills and knowledge are valuable and we come here to contribute, to make this country better. With that mindset, yes, new immigrants do have problems, do have difficulties, do have barriers but it will be a lot easier overcome. Then of course the assistance we can provide them. The Chinese name of SUCCESS, if I translate it literally, is Chinese Immigrants Mutual Help Society. The idea is mutual help. We’re helping each other. It is a mindset to help each other so there are less problems, less difficulties and we can all have a good life
We all know that Canada is multicultural society and multiculturalism is part of the constitution/laws. The word itself may have a different definition or interpretation by different people. For me, it is a way of life. What it means is everybody’s life is enriched because of different languages, beliefs around us. It is like going to a restaurant that serves buffet where there are so many different types of food. Some you know, some you don’t know. It’s a great opportunity to try something you don’t know. SoI would like everybody to really enjoy your surroundings, enjoy different things around you. Try it, if you don’t like it , fine, but you won’t know until you try. There’s that slogan, “try it, you’ll love it.” I think that’s what’s so beautiful about what Canada is.