A Paralegal with six and half years of experience in assisting refugee claimants in immigration and refugee law matters, including interviewing clients in their language, preparing client’s documentation to be filed with the Immigration and Refugee Board and Citizenship Immigration Canada, country conditions and jurisprudence research and general hearing preparation. A past Board Member with the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, with five years experience evaluating and determining refugee claims from all over the world and dealing with international refugee law matters. A Registered Social Worker with 17 years experience working with the Italian, Portuguese and Latin American communities, assisting new comers, landed immigrants, sponsored relatives, Convention refugees and refugees in community work, intake cases, group and one to one counseling. A dynamic, articulate and well-informed individual with excellent knowledge of social issues, Canadian immigration and international refugee matters, poverty law and fluent in Spanish, Italian and Portuguese languages.

1995-02

Catholic Hispanic Centre, Vancouver. Intake summary advice for low-income people on immigration, refugee and poverty law matters.

1988

Member, Latin American Youth Council (Community planning for Vancouver City Council).
Member, Greater Vancouver Mental Health Service Society. Task force on Canadian Latin American mental health.
Member, Steering Committee, Access to Justice 1989 Conference (The British Columbia Public Interest Advocacy Centre).
Member, Latin American Subcommittee, Canadian Mental Health Association.

1985-99

Founding Member, Board Member and Member, Vancouver Association for Survivors of Torture (VAST).

1987-02

Founding Member, Member, Latin American community Council.

1984-02

Founding Member, Board Member and Member, Inland Refugee Society of B.C.

1982-88

1981-88

Founding Member and Board Member, the Vancouver Society of Immigrant Women.

1985-87

Field Instructor, UBC School of Social Work.

1987

Member, Vancouver Planning Committee, National Immigrant Women’s Conference.
Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies of B.C.

1987

Member, Planning Committee, “Good Neighbor” Workshops for Indo-Canadians, Portuguese, Italian and Latin-American Communities. Association of Neighborhood Houses of Greater Vancouver.

1986-88

Founding Member, Member, Vancouver Refugee Council.
Member, Winnipeg Planning Committee, National Immigrant Women’s Conference.
Member, Planning Committee, Canadian Mental Health Association, Vancouver-Burnaby Branch.

1985

Member, Teacher’s Conference Steering Committee, Social Psychology Department, Langara College.
Member, Steering Committee, the Family Court Conciliators Conference.
Member, Planning Committee, Multicultural Seminar, Douglas College.

1984

Member, Development Committee to Cultural Heritage Advisor: Guide to Resources and Services in B.C.

1982-83

Member of the Immigration Law Clinic, Intake work, Legal Services Society.

1983

Member, Workshop Steering Committee. “Professionals working with ethnic families.” O.A.S.I.S.
Member, Planning Committee, Visible minority perspectives of Canadian education, Department of Curriculum and Instructional Studies, Faculty of Education, UBC.

1982

Member, Steering Committee, Vancouver Coalition of World Refugees, Vancouver Ecumenical Action.

1979-80

Board Member, Vancouver Multicultural Women's Association.

1980

Member, Planning Committee, Lecture Series, the Public Legal Education Society.
Member, Planning Committee, Spring Conference, School of Social Work, UBC.

1973-75

Founding Member and Coordinator, McQueena Mother's Group (Orientation to Italian community)

1994-02

Presentations before the Ethnic communities and the NGO community in immigration and refugee law matters.

1993

Identifying problems in testimony given by survivors of torture, assessing credibility, and court room experience by a survivor of torture. IRB, RHO, Adjudicators, BC Bar and Legal Advisors' Workshop.

1993

Problems of interpretation in specific languages - Semantics, Issues of neutrality, Apprehension of bias, Interpreters dynamics prior to and during the hearing. IRB, RHO, Adjudicators and Interpreters Workshop.
Highlights of the revised refugee determination system: Bill C-86. Workshop for the Latin-American community (MOSAIC).
Women Refugee Claimants: New guidelines pursuant to Section 65(3) of the Immigration Act. Presented to MOSAIC language workers.

1991

Advocacy before the CRDD. Presentations to the BC Bar.
Interpreters and cultural communication. Advocacy Seminar for the BC Bar.

1990

The decision making process. Understanding the new determination process. Presented to bilingual NGO community workers.
The decision making process. Understanding the new determination process. Presented to the Vancouver School Board.

1989

Torture in the 80's. CRDD member training. Toronto. Immigrant women barriers, challenges, goals and accomplishments.
Immigrant and Visible Minority Women's Conference. Vancouver Island.

1988

Identifying and solving conflict. Presented to Latin-American teenagers at Templeton High school.
Concerns and adaptation problems of Latin-American women in B.C. Canadian/Hispanic National Conference. Montreal.
Labor Law. Presented to Latin-American ESL students at King Edward Campus.
Immigration: Latin-American patterns and process of adaptation. Presented to Vancouver City Community Recreation Centre staff.
Immigration challenge. Cross Cultural Workshop for Agency Placement Officers, Pearson's Hospital.
Immigrant women: Process adaptation, changes and reconditioning. Bahai Community Conference, UBC Graduate Centre.

1988

Refugee experience in B.C.: Ethnic attitudes towards nurses. Presented to Prevention Nurses, Burrard Health Unit.
Life cycle and adjusting to a new society. Presented to Latin-American parents (MOSAIC).
Consequences of alcohol use: Alcoholism out of the shadow. Presented to AA Latin-American group.
The consequences and aftermath of torture: Issues and concerns for the survivors. Annual Symposium. Vancouver Association of Survivors of Torture.
The settlement needs of refugees. Public Symposium on world Refugees. Vancouver Refugee Council.
The Latin-American refugee experience in B.C. Teacher's Centre, Vancouver School Board.

1987

Immigrant experience, struggle and adaptation. Conference for Professionals working with Latin-Americans. BC Association of Social Worker's Multicultural Concerns Committee.