Visit to Brandon's winter agricultural fair gives newcomers a taste of Prairie culture

A visit to Brandon's popular winter agricultural exhibition this week offered a taste of home for a teen who came to Canada after fleeing from war in Syria — while also giving her, and other recent immigrants, a chance to learn more about Canadian culture.

Kaltoum Alaveid, 17, and her family were among a group of newcomers to Canada who got a tour of Brandon's Royal Manitoba Winter Fair through Westman Immigrant Services on Wednesday.

Alaveid ended her day at the fair — a long-standing spring break tradition in Brandon that showcases agricultural displays, show jumping and other entertainment — with a visit to the petting zoo, where she spotted many of the same types of animals her father and grandfather had on their farm in Syria.

"In my country ... we used to have farms there, so we have lots of animals," Alaveid said. "I was a little bit nervous because I haven't touched them since three or four years."

Her life has been much different since her family escaped the war in Syria nearly a decade ago, moving to Brandon in November 2020 after spending time in Lebanon, Alaveid said.

Going to the fair was the first time since then she got to see animals like the ones she grew up with, and the tour gave her an opportunity to connect with other Brandon community members, she said.

Alaveid toured the fair with her parents and five brothers as part of the event's Family Day. Around 100 immigrants to Canada got a chance to experience the Brandon tradition with winter fair guides.

Those tours are a critical opportunity, says Hannah Holt, a community outreach manager with Westman Immigrant Services. In 2022, the non-profit organization, which offers support services for newcomers in the region, saw more than 2,000 permanent residents come to the southwestern Manitoba area — its highest-ever number, said Holt.

"It's just absolutely fantastic for our newcomers to get the opportunity to come," she said.

"It's just been seeing the newcomers get all excited about seeing the cows and interacting with Canadian staples like [entertainers] Al Simmons and Doodles the Clown."

The trip serves as a great way to help immigrants integrate into Canadian culture, Holt said, giving them a chance to interact with the agricultural industry — a major part of Manitoba's economy — and exposing them to different parts of the Brandon community.

Mark Humphries, general manager of the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba — the non-profit that produces the winter fair, which started Monday and wraps up Saturday — says the goal of the tour is to let recent immigrants experience "the tastes … the smells [and] the sounds" of the event.

That includes favourites like "the cattle barns, the horse barns downstairs — and the kids really love that because obviously, some of them are farm-based or have been farm-based from the countries that they've arrived from," he said.

"That was a little bit of a feel-good factor for them because obviously, they can make the connection."