Maya* arrived to Christie six weeks before giving birth to her first child. She was one of seven pregnant women who arrived to Christie between late October and December 2023, after having been cycled through churches, the Red Cross, and drop-in centres for many months.
“Before I arrived to Christie, my biggest problem was a place to stay,” explains Maya who arrived to Canada at the end of May, pregnant and alone, and spent the summer without a shelter space, including days at a time at various drop-in centres.
“[Staff at the drop-in centres] were telling me not to come here anymore, [saying] it’s not safe for me because at that time I was 24 weeks pregnant and my back hurt, my feet were swollen because of the heat, it was summertime,” recalls Maya.
Eventually Maya was taken in by a church who referred her to the Red Cross First Contact Program, a 24/7 information and referral service for newly arriving refugee claimants, who made the eventual connection to an available bed at Christie Refugee Welcome Centre.
After six weeks at Christie, Maya gave birth to her first child, a healthy baby boy named Jack. Maya, who is a critical care/ICU pediatrician back home in her native Ethiopia, describes how the support she received at Christie was unlike anything she’d ever witnessed.
“Everything that I could think of, I received [at Christie]. I had shelter … I had a family setting where I [could] deliver my baby, meal services, clothing for my baby and for myself, milk, and [on-site] medical services.”
She explains that one of the most unforgettable services she received from Christie staff were the taxi vouchers which are offered to pregnant women and mothers with newborns to get to and from important medical, immigration, and settlement-related appointments.
“Oh my goodness, [the taxi vouchers] were a big relief because as I was reaching full-term it was difficult for me to move. It would take me hours to get to my appointments. I couldn’t believe it when they told me that they provide [the taxi],” she laughs.
Maya also recounts the important immigration and housing services Christie staff provided, noting that her housing search was made infinitely easier thanks to Christie staff strategically providing her detailed housing orientations and gathering the necessary housing search documentation before her delivery.
Two weeks post-delivery, Maya began her housing search and four weeks later she secured a rental apartment. A testament to the support of Christie staff and an essential housing subsidy, but more significantly a testament to Maya’s hard work and determination to continuously move forward in her settlement.
After moving out from Christie, Maya was connected to the Centre’s Outreach Department and received further supports from Christie staff with retaining her housing subsidy, getting set-up with furniture, finding a family doctor for herself, preparing her for her refugee hearing in front of the Immigration and Refugee Board and – just as meaningfully— connecting her to a community of mothers with newborns in her neighbourhood.
“I have never seen anything like this,” admits Maya.
“I’m a doctor and I’ve seen so many social programs but I have never seen anything packaged in such a way,” she describes of the wrap-around support she received at Christie.
“How beautiful it is.”
* Names have been changed