A number of families that are adapting to life in Calgary after fleeing their native Tibet were treated to a festive celebration on Sunday to help them embrace the holiday spirit.
The party was hosted by the Project Tibet Society after Alpine Insurance made a financial donation to the organization and the owners of Mercato West, which has employed several refugees, offered their location for the event.
Techno Dorjee of the Project Tibet Society says the 25 families that attended the event are some of the 330 Tibetan refugees who arrived in Calgary over the last two years and, for most, Christmas is a new experience for them.
“Typically we don’t celebrate Christmas so we decided to kind of show the Canadian spirit of Christmas,” explained Dorjee.
As part of the Tibetan refugee project, the 950 refugees who have arrived in Canada have received financial assistance from the Project Tibet Society to help them achieve basic financial reliance within their first three months in their adopted homeland.
