Call for multicultural centre
Christchurch’s migrant community has appealed to the city council for $7 million to build a new multicultural centre.
‘‘We don’t meet friends at bars and cafes. We need a place to maintain our languages and cultures,’’ Afghani migrant Alia Afzali told Christchurch City councillors at a Long Term Plan hearing yesterday.
Hagley College is proposing to build an $11m multicultural centre on its land facing Hagley Park, but needs $7m from the council before it can go ahead.
Afzali talked about a community in isolation and in desperate need for somewhere to meet, after the Canterbury Migrants Centre closed in 2017 due to a lack of funding.
She said domestic violence was a problem in the community and many women did not know where to go for help.
‘‘Women need our help because they are alone and isolated.
‘‘We can help each other if have a safe place to meet.
‘‘We need help. There is no safe place for them to talk and to share their feelings.’’
Christchurch Multicultural Council president Dr Surinder Tandon said services previously offered at the Migrants Centre have had to shift from one place to another. ‘‘We’re looking for a multicultural centre which is going to be suitable for all age groups, both male and female. People from different cultures and different faith groups.’’
The facility would include small meeting spaces and a large multipurpose performance and meeting space with kitchen facilities.
Tandon said the centre would be place where migrants felt safe and felt they belonged.
He wanted to run cultural competency programmes at the centre not only for migrants, but for the wider community.
‘‘It’s a place for learning for everybody, not just for migrants.’’
Hagley College was about to embark on a $17m redevelopment, but principal Mike Fowler said that money must be spent on teaching and learning spaces.
The school would put $4m toward the $11m centre to pay for the attached teaching and learning spaces.
The college was proposing to provide the land for free, build the centre and cover the future operational, management and maintenance costs.
Fowler said after the presentation that the project would not go ahead if it could not get funding from the council.