The Canning Cultural Ambassadors program connects Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CaLD) communities and the City.
Cultural Ambassadors are recruited to play an engagement role with their communities. They help with information flow and feedback between their community and the City.
Cultural Ambassadors are individuals who have:
- bilingual skills
- live locally and/or
- are embedded within a migrant community.
The program objectives are to:
- increase the community's awareness of and access to City services
- identify opportunities for the City to improve services and activities to better meet community needs
- encourage dialogue on how to reduce barriers and increase participation
- build intercultural understanding and relationships.
During the program, participants attend workshops to enhance their skills. The workshops align with their work as community leaders / connectors. They cover the development of project skills and upskilling on community engagement.
This program is run in partnership with Curtin University and Multicultural Futures. The program has also received support through Lotterywest.
2022 Cultural Ambassadors
Balli Singh
Cultural background: Indian (Punjabi)
Profile Bio
Languages spoken:
Israa Sedda
Cultural background: Arabic-Muslim
Profile Bio
Languages spoken:
Karunakaran Kutty Veluthakkal
Cultural background: Singaporean
Profile Bio
Languages spoken:
Dr Sadhana Bose
Cultural background: Indian
Profile Bio
Languages spoken:
- English
- Hindi
- Malayalam
- Marathi
- Sanskrit
Selam Tegegn
Cultural background: (Ethiopian – Eritrean) Sub-Saharan Africa
Profile Bio
Languages spoken:
Syeda Maisara Muzaffar
Cultural background: Bangladeshi
Profile Bio
Languages spoken:
Vijayakumar Vijayaratnam
Cultural background: Malaysian
Profile Bio
Languages spoken:
2021 Cultural Ambassadors
Syed Muzaffar Ahmed
Cultural background: Bangladeshi
Profile Video
Languages spoken:
Kirtida Shah
Cultural background: Indian
Profile Video
Languages spoken:
- Gujarati
- Hindi
- Marathi
- English
Elvie Yap
Cultural background: Chinese
Profile Video
Languages spoken:
- Mandarin
- Cantonese
- Hokkien
- Malay
- English
Simrat Kaur
Cultural background: Indian
Profile Video
Languages spoken:
Dr S Zaung Nau
Cultural background: Myanmar
Profile Video
Languages spoken:
- Myanmar (Burmese)
- English
Ankur Verma
Cultural background: Indian
Profile Video
Languages spoken:
Luul Ibrahim
Cultural background: Somali
Profile Video
Languages spoken:
Astit Olszowy and Richard Olszowy
Cultural background: Indonesian and Polish
Profile Video
Languages spoken:
Amit Mehta
Cultural background: Indian
Profile Video
Languages spoken:
- Gujarati
- Hindi
- Marathi
- English