Meet Manawatū District Council’s welcoming communities co-ordinator Sarah Deveau

Sarah Deveau is Manawatū District Council's welcoming communities co-ordinator.

When Sarah Deveau moved from Canada to New Zealand she didn’t anticipate the adjustment to be so difficult.

They are both English-speaking Commonwealth countries so she wasn’t expecting too many differences.

However, Canada is influenced by France and the United States, while New Zealand has Māori, Australian and English influences.

One small example: what Kiwis call a footpath, Canadians call a sidewalk. A footpath in Canada is a path through nature.

“I can only imagine how hard it must be for people from countries that aren’t so similar.”

Deveau is the welcoming communities co-ordinator at Manawatū District Council. It’s a new role and she started last September.

Welcoming Communities is a Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment initiative councils can opt to join. It uses a community-based approach to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for newcomers.

Welcoming Communities works towards healthier, happier and more productive communities.

Deveau says the programme is about making people feel connected because if they don’t they might move to another city where it is easier to access their culture.

She is working closely with the Manawatū Rural Support Trust. The district is Feilding centric and the rural community can feel forgotten yet immigrants are getting jobs on farms and in agricultural businesses.

Deveau moved to Feilding in 2018 to be near her now husband Connor McNab’s family. At first, she struggled with feelings of isolation and loneliness but likes it now. However, she has told her husband if they move again it will be back to Canada and not restarting elsewhere.

Feilding has a lot to offer but it is not obvious and you have to be in the community to find it all, she says.

New Zealand is a great country but with a lot of small towns it can be hard to find your place, which is what the programme is looking to overcome.

Welcoming Communities is not about blending cultures but about everyone supporting each other to be more vibrant and nourishing. Their uniqueness remains intact.

Canadians like to describe immigration as a salad bowl, she says. People come as all kinds – lettuce, tomatoes, capsicums.

“Individually we’re pretty good, but combined we make for something more vibrant and fulfilling.

“Yet even when everyone is mixed in, our unique cultural identity remains intact and celebrated. This is the vision I have for Manawatū - that we all come out not only to support our neighbours, but to welcome our differences.”

The programme is for all residents to connect with people across the cultural bandwidth.

Deveau is keen for the council to hold citizenship ceremonies at marae. When one goes to someone’s place they build knowledge and understanding of them.

She wants to start a cultural playgroup highlighting a different culture each month so parents and children can spend an hour together in that culture.

Another idea is a cultural reading programme. People read a book based in another country or culture and then meet at the library to talk to someone from that culture.

Originally from Nova Scotia in Canada’s east, she went to high school in Maine, United States.

Deveau was living in Jasper, Alberta, when she met McNab who was on his OE. Their daughter Hayden will be 2 in March.

Sarah Deveau and her daughter Hayden. She found it hard moving from Canada to Feilding.

She is running a survey on how welcoming Manawatū District is. The feedback will be used to help design the programme and act as a benchmark to measure future success.

To complete the survey go to makeyourmark.manawatudc.govt.nz/welcoming-manawatu.

Judith Lacy has been the editor of the Manawatū Guardian since December 2020. She graduated from journalism school in 2001 and this is her second role editing a community paper.