Moncton-area high school students learn to 'do the right thing'

Riverview High School student Yacob Dahib says finding acceptance hasn't been easy sometimes.

"It's been a rough ride, mostly because my dad's from Morocco and we're Muslim," he said Friday. "So Grade 9, it's getting better because everyone's gotten to know me now, so it's gotten a lot more easier than middle school."

Dahib hopes things continue to get better, and people learn to appreciate different cultures.

He was one of 100 high school students in the Moncton area taking part in the "Do The Right Thing" student onference.

It was organized by the Anglophone East School District, with help from the Canadian Race Relations Foundation and the Harmony Movement, a Toronto-based group that provides diversity programs.

Erin Campeau, communications co-ordinator with the Harmony Movement, said the day started with self-identity and how students see the world.

"Once we're able to really see the way we see the world, once we're aware of it, we can start interrupting it and when we interrupt it, we can include more stories, more voices, so that's really one take-away … we hope they'll have a greater understanding of their self-awareness."

Campeau said the students look at how their schools are doing when it comes to race and racism, what gaps exist, and how they can be filled. Students then come up with an action plan.

That's important in Anglophone East, which has students from 100 different countries. The district welcomed 800 newcomers this year.

John Paul Aragones, a Grade 9 student Harrison Trimble High School, moved to Canada two years ago from the Philippines.

"They accept me and when I come here, first I make friends and they accept me easily," he said.

Aragones said he's had trouble communicating as he's learned English, but he tries to talk to other people and learn about their culture. He hoped to make even more friends at the conference.

Pedro Alfonso Pacheco Villalobos was born in Venezuela, moved to Mexico, then came to Canada, settling in Toronto before moving to Moncton.

The Grade 9 Moncton High School student said his experience has been positive.

"I've seen a lot of different cultures and I've made a lot of friends with different backgrounds." he said. "It's really nice and fun."

Pacheco Villalobos said the conference was vital because accepting new cultures is important and the province needs immigrants.

"We need new people and more people to do stuff and people are getting older, they're going to have to retire and then what are we going to do then? So we need to bring more people."

Cristina Bolonyi said her family came to Canada for a better life and a better education.

"Everybody's been treating me very nicely and I guess it would have been unexpected because in Romania we're not so open," Bolonyi said.

"We're more cold to strangers, but we still have manners and here I've had the opportunity to experience much more than I would ever have had."

She said she's met many people from other countries, speaking different languages, something she finds "beautiful."

The Grade 9 student at Bernice MacNaughton High School said it's important for young people to embrace diversity.

"Mean things — mean words that are said — they're taken to heart and you can't change that, so it's better to prevent that from happening than letting it get worse," she said.

Campeau, of the Harmony Movement, said it's crucial to focus on young people who are still in school because they have a completely different perspective on diversity.

The key is to amplify their voices, she said, because they are the key to change.