By Shannon Lough
Volunteers held bags full of winter jackets as ten Tibetans arrived in Ottawa airport last Friday night to begin their new lives in Canada. As the newcomers came down the escalator, a group of volunteers were there to welcome and prepare them for the bitter –16 C temperature outside.
A group of Tibetans arriving in Canada. Photo by Shannon Lough.
On a night that felt more like the chill of mid-January than November, people came prepared to equip the new Canadians with winter coats. Tashi Wangdi, the retired home minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, had garbage bags full of puffy jackets for the newcomers.
Tenzin Tsangyang, one of the new arrivals, had traveled for more than 24 hours from New Delhi, India.
“I’m exhausted but at the same time very excited,” Tsangyang said. He did some research on the internet to prepare for life and winter in Ottawa. “I heard it’s a very cold place. Other than that I heard that it’s one of the capital cities.”
Champa Tenzin, a Tibetan who moved to Canada six months ago, was one of the volunteers handing out jackets. A smiling Tenzin said that Wangdi recruited him to bring the jackets. He said he is excited to experience his first winter.
“I haven’t seen a lot of snow and some of my friends are telling me the middle of winter is very cold. I want to experience it,” Tenzin said.
Volunteers welcome the Tibetans. Photo by Shannon Lough.
The ten newcomers to Ottawa are part of the Tibetan Resettlement Project, a special immigration plan organized by the Canadian government and a volunteer organization. In 2007, there was an agreement between the Dalai Lama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper to bring in 1000 Tibetans from Arunachal Pradesh, a refugee community in Northern India. After years of organization, the process is finally underway.
Over the next two years, 90 Tibetans will make their way to Ottawa and this first group will have the opportunity to get settled during Canadian winter.
Other Tibetans who were at the airport to welcome the new arrivals reflected on their first Canadian winter. Wangmo Konchok moved to Ottawa two years ago with her mother. She was sponsored to live here by her sister and her sister’s husband, David McDowell.
“When they came two years ago it was the absolute mildest winter we ever had and she thought it was cold,” McDowell said. He said he remembers later during that winter his wife and newly arrived sister-in-law “went for a walk and she’s chanting ‘Very cold, going to die.’” He laughs at the memory.
In spite of the cold, Konchok has attempted some winter activities since she came to Ottawa. “I tried to learn to skate but still learning,” she said about going on the canal last year.
Samphe Lhlungpa, who is one of the fundraisers for Project Tibet Society – the umbrella organization for the Tibetan Resettlement Project – thinks that the newcomers will be fine.
“Where they come from, Northeast India, can get chilly and cold because of the altitude,” Lhlungpa said.
“The Tibetan plateau is 12000 feet as the average altitude,” Lhlungpa added. Although the refugees from Arunachal Pradesh were born in India, their parents came from Tibet and have passed on “cultural notions of ice and snow so that helps.”
New Tibetans arrived at the airport and were greeted by volunteers. Photo by Shannon Lough.
Gyaltsok, who goes by his one Tibetan name, is one of the Tibetans who traveled over 25 hours from New Delhi to Ottawa. He stands just inside the glass doors of the terminal, where the taxis outside create white puffs of exhaust in the cold air.
Today, Gyaltsok is about to start his new life in Canada. While he was waiting in New Delhi for his documents in preparation for traveling, he said he did “a little bit of shopping for warm gloves.”
This first group of Tibetans will be supported by sponsors from the Tibetan Resettlement Project over the next three months, and should be acclimatized by the time the next group arrives in three months. Then, it will be their turn to introduce a new group to Ottawa’s winter.
