The snow is piling up outside the window of 16-year-old Nour Taltello’s classroom. The high school student first landed in Ottawa last winter with her parents and younger sister as Syrian refugees.

“A lot of people don’t like the snow, but for me I like the snow,” she says with a laugh, while sitting behind her desk.

Like Taltello, a majority of Syrian refugees who recently arrived in Ottawa are under 18 years-old, according to a report published by the Ottawa Local Immigration Partnership (OLIP).

Released last month, the umbrella organization’s report estimates that youth under 18 constitute 60 per cent of government-sponsored Syrian refugees in Ottawa from 2015-2016.

The report was funded by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada as part of a research initiative to strengthen the city of Ottawa’s ability to support Syrian refugees. Among its recommendations is to develop a youth-focused settlement and integration strategy.

The integration of young newcomers “is integral to our success as a host community,” says Hindia Mohamoud, the director of OLIP, which works to attract and settle immigrants.

Mohamoud says it’s important to have a plan aimed at youth because their experiences are different from those of adults. Youth spend more time in school, for example, and are affected by the decisions of their parents and pressure from their peers, she says.

Apart from enjoying the snow, Taltello faced her share of challenges as a newcomer to Ottawa.

“My English is not strong,” she says. “In my math class, I always struggle because when the teacher (is) explaining the question, first I have to go through the English and then through the math.”

Taltello attends regular courses throughout the school day, except for one class where she joins other students learning English as a Second Language (ESL). Her teacher, Janet Birmingham, says several students in this class came to Canada as immigrants or refugees. They often face difficulties when adjusting to the expectations of a new school and learning to express themselves in a new language.

“They’ve all been in the same boat, even if they’re coming from different countries,” says Birmingham, who teaches ESL at St. Mother Teresa High School.

Some students in the class experience emotional challenges as well, says Birmingham, especially if they fled violence or have family members in war-torn countries. For Taltello, it helped to have relatives already in Ottawa who comforted her and her family when they first arrived. “They just help us to organize our feelings,” she says. “They told us it’s okay.”

In 2011, OLIP established a local immigration strategy that lays out long-term priorities to help newcomers in various service sectors, including employment, health and education. It further expressed concern that services supporting immigrant youth are “fragmented and unfocused.”

Ottawa needs a plan that elaborates on existing strategies and resources to specifically address the challenges of newcomer youth, says Mohamoud.

“We have a lot of experience as a city because we have been integrating immigrants a lot,” she says. “The gap we see is one that requires bringing together all these experiences and putting priorities that we as a community can grapple with to succeed effectively in the integration of newcomer youth.”

Since first arriving in Ottawa, Taltello says her language skills have improved and so has her knowledge of the community through volunteering. After high school, she hopes to apply for university here and study to become a doctor.

“To build my future, to have a great job, to be successful—that’s my dream,” she says.

The number of recent immigrants within a suburb in Ottawa’s southwest end doubled between 2011-16, beating a city-wide trend that saw a decrease in newcomers, according to an analysis of Statistics Canada’s census on immigration and ethnocultural diversity.

Several neighbourhoods in Barrhaven are becoming home to a growing population of recent immigrants, climbing from 300 to 705 newcomers in five years—that’s the highest increase the city has seen.

Among the newcomers moving in the area are Ali Niaz and his family, who immigrated to Canada from Pakistan in 2013. They moved around Ontario for a few years before finally settling in Barrhaven last year.

“It’s a family friendly neighbourhood,” says Niaz, sitting in the living room of his rented townhome, located a convenient walking distance away from a market place.

The father of three says he and his wife were happy to find a school in the area that offers a special learning program from their 6-year-old son who has difficulty speaking, something they did not find in their old neighbourhood in the city’s urban region.

There are lots of opportunities for families with children in Barrhaven, says Alison Stirling, an assistant speaking on behalf of the Barrhaven city councillor, who was unavailable for comment. Stirling says the ward is home to more schools by far than any other in the city, in addition to recreation centres, sports associations, and greenspaces.

But the amenities available are not the only factors that Niaz and his family find attractive about the area.

“There is so much diversity here,” says Niaz, who is applying for a master’s degree in accounting at Carleton University. “My neighbours next door, they are French, the others are English. Down the street we have a neighbour from Libya and another from India, too. Our neighbours are very friendly.”

Barrhaven has been a hot bed for development in decent years, says Stirling. “Of course that’s causing an increase in population and immigration as well.”

At the same time that Barrhaven welcomes a growing population of newcomers, the city is seeing an overall decline in recent immigrants by 2,350 people.

The map below illustrates the number of newcomers who have settled within each census tract across the city, with red areas representing a decline, beige areas indicating no change, and the lighter to darker shades of orange showing the lowest to highest growth areas.

In the latest census, a recent immigrant refers to someone who first obtained their landed immigrant or permanent resident status between January 2011 and May 2016.

Ottawa saw an overall decline in its recent immigrant population between 2011-16.
Source: Statistics Canada

The general decline may have to do with federal policies from the previous government that “put all kinds of impediments” for bringing new immigrants, says Caroline Andrews, steering committee chair of the Ottawa Local Immigration Partnership, which works to attract and integrate immigrants in the city.

Although the number of recent immigrants in Ottawa has fallen, this does not mean there are fewer newcomers arriving, says Andrews. She cites the “huge community effort” in bringing Syrian refugees, who would not be counted as recent immigrants in this census data.

The Niaz couple, who have just passed their citizenship test this week, are looking forward to becoming new Canadians and buying a new home of their own, hoping to stay in Barrhaven.

“It all happened so fast that it came as a surprise to us. We’re very excited,” says Niaz.

Residents within a municipal boundary west of Ottawa’s downtown core filed the most complaints about water quality in 2016, according to an analysis of data the city uses to track service requests.

Kitchissippi was the source of 73 out of 328 complaints related to water odour, taste, and discolouration—that’s more than double the number of complaints made in any other ward that year.

Kitchissippi Councillor Jeff Leiper says the few calls his office receives about water quality are generally related to construction projects, particularly road renewals.

“Our ward has some very old streets,” says Leiper, “so I think we’re seeing more renewal projects than the rest of the city, which would then lead to more complaints.”

The City of Ottawa’s map of planned constructions projects shows most are concentrated in urban areas than in suburbs, where generally less water quality complaints are made.

Leiper says when a road renewal takes place, workers will install temporary water services. Residents’ tap water may run brown for a few minutes when the system starts operating, which he says can cause some to make a complaint.

If residents complain about water quality to the City’s 311 phone service, staff can direct them to the water department, which may dispatch first responders to test their water quality.

But those cases are rare, says Stephanie, who works for Ottawa 311 and did not wish to provide her full name.

“We just ask that the callers keep running the cold water for some time and it ends up clearing out,” she says. “It’s very rare that we actually have to attend.”

She also says some complaints are related to construction, which may involve a watermain break that can cause air bubbles to change the colour of the water.

Despite the higher number in complaints, Leiper says he has no reason to believe that Kitchissippi has any problems with drinking water.

“The water quality is excellent, but with some of the city projects where we put people on temporary water, I think that sometimes kicks off a number of calls.”

Leiper, who is also a member of the City’s environment and climate protection committee, says he regularly reviews reports monitoring water quality.

“What I’ve seen is that the City’s water quality is excellent and I am not concerned about it at all.”

Kitchissippi resident Taleb Almansoori says he’s not concerned about the quality of his drinking water either, even with a few construction projects starting on his street.

“I never encountered any problems, even before that,” he says.

The ward is home to one of two water purification plants that clean water extracted from the Ottawa River before it is delivered across the city to homes and businesses.

Leiper says he pays close attention to reports on the quality of drinking water treated and distributed from the Lemieux Island water purification plant, which met provincial and federal standards in 2016.

“Water is something I take really, really seriously. It is fundamentally the most important service that we provide.”

Black people were the most common racial group to be victims of hate crime in 2015, according to an analysis of data Statistics Canada uses to track hate crimes.

Police-reported hate crimes against black people made up 35 per cent of racially motivated crimes in 2015—placing them top of the list, despite 6 per cent fewer incidents from 2014.

This does not surprise Rev. Anthony Bailey from Parkdale United Church, one of several targets of hateful graffiti in Ottawa last fall.

Although black people were the most common victims of race-motivated hate crimes even back in 2012, Bailey says not all Canadians are aware of the fact.

“I think there is a certain naivety about these kinds of statistics,” he says.

“Many people who are not conversant with the realities of racialized people are of the opinion that this is 2017, we’re past that sort of thing, we’re a tolerant society.”

Bailey, who was one of the speakers at a session on addressing hate crimes in Ottawa, says the reason crimes targeting black people are high has to do with racism and the history of black people in Canada.

Race is an “artificial category,” he says, that serves to oppress people and justified the use of black slaves in North America.

He says the implications of racism today are evident in the high numbers of black people who are incarcerated or stopped by police.

“Those things are indications of the systemic way in which particular peoples are targeted.”

Just three weeks ago, Bailey says he was the target of racial profiling by police while driving in Ottawa.

“They followed me everywhere,” he says. “Each way I turned, they turned, until they could examine my license (plate) on their computer, and just drove off because there was nothing to be done.”

“There’s a systemic suspicion and it’s not a surprise that this also spills over into the general population.”

Racial profiling and over-policing of black communities are also among the concerns raised during a forum in Ottawa last summer where hundreds of participants discussed the effects of anti-black racism.

The forum, which was organized by Ottawa Local Immigration Partnership and the City for All Women Initiative, laid out recommendations as to how such concerns can be addressed. They include hiring officers from racialized communities and acknowledging issues of systemic racism.

Bailey also believes education is necessary to address anti-black racism. He visits schools and community organizations to talk about the stories of black Canadians and their contributions to the country.

“A lot of people don’t understand or know the achievements not only of ordinary black Canadians but also those who have excelled.” He cited the example of Viola Desmond, a black civil rights activist who was recently chosen to become the first Canadian women to appear on a dollar bill.

He says this kind of awareness can not only change opinions about black people, but also challenge systemic forms of racism, including racial profiling.

“I think that that’s important for how we mend the society,” says Bailey.

“Yes, we hold people to account, but we also try to put in place something that can change opinions and change behaviour.”

This is a test from  Salma Mahgoub