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Finance series helps new Canadians

Newcomers to Canada offered free financial literacy training

Making an international move to Canada is often overwhelming – something that a student entrepreneurship group hopes to ease.

The University of Victoria branch of Students in Free Enterprise, a group comprised of 18 primarily business and economics students, has been hosting a series of workshops aimed at imbuing newcomers to the region with a heightened sense of financial literacy.

The group’s latest workshop, held March 31 at the university, drew 50 people who had recently moved to Canada and focused on the basics of credit. Their first talk in what is intended as a four-part series covered the basics of filing taxes.

“The first initiative is to help newcomers adjust to the environment in Canada,” said Keita Yao, who originally hails from China. “Most of our group members are newcomers, so we want to help others (by sharing) the hardships we went through.”

Like other SIFE members, Yao speaks several languages and is able to assist with translation. The team, along with two financial advisors from Royal Bank of Canada, are able to translate from Mandarin, Cantonese, French, Russian and German, if needed.

Prior to the workshop, members were trained by RBC representatives, who were also available for an open question-and-answer period after the talk.

While a date is not yet set, organizers plan to hold the next workshop mid-May. Contact sife.uvic.newcomer@hotmail.com for more information.

nnorth@saanichnews.com