Camille OrridgeERIN ELDER
With increasing numbers of immigrants arriving every year from Asia, the Caribbean and other parts of the world, Canada's urban demographic makeup is undergoing a profound shift. Marina Jimenez talks with seven emerging leaders from this new demographic, and their thoughts on immigration, philanthropy, success and influence.
Camille Orridge, 63, is the newly appointed CEO of the Toronto Central Local Health Integration Network, and a powerful and passionate advocate for social change. She co-founded Pathways to Education, the remarkably successful stay-in-school program for high-school students.
When did you come to Canada?
I came on Dec. 3, 1967, from Jamaica, joining my mother and aunt. I began working as a ward clerk at Toronto General Hospital. I am the first person in my family to go to university.
What has been your biggest challenge?
In the beginning, you expect the racism. But as you become educated, and advance and move into the middle class, you still hear comments about people who live in [social]housing. We all started out in housing, and we all did well. I came from a poor family in Jamaica. I can still hear my mother saying, "The poor will always be the poor, but why should it always be the same family?" Education is the key to social mobility. Traditional black families come from slavery and that's how we made it out, by engaging as communities.
Who are your heroes?
My heroes are the old black women and the immigrant women. They get up at 4 a.m. and they get on the bus and they do those menial jobs, and yet still they care, they love and they laugh. They don't get beaten down. I walk on the street and I look at their faces and I see the resiliency that has helped them to survive. Those are the faces I look at when I feel tired.
What is your motto?
I won't be boxed in by anyone else's perceptions about what I can or cannot do. We will take our rightful place and we will achieve.
Who do you hang out with?
I have a mixture of friends, Ismailis, Jewish, Muslim and Caribbeans. We're all on the fringes of our various cultural groups and we don't quite fit in. We are all social activists.
What is your advice to other newcomers?
Don't assume citizenship is a right. We have to join in and belong, and fight to maintain what Canada has. With citizenship comes responsibilities, not just privileges. We must participate in the political system.