Smile. Start a conversation. Make Canterbury feel like home. That is the aim of a campaign that was launched in the Ashburton District in September. The Start with a Smile campaign is being run by the Ashburton District Council and encourages locals to make the region feel like home for the many newcomers choosing to live and work in Mid Canterbury.
Read MoreThe South West Baptist Church of Christchurch, which in the past has been known by many names including Lincoln Road Baptist, Lyttelton Street Baptist, Spreydon and Halswell Baptist, celebrated its 150 years of establishment over the weekend of October 14 – 16.
Read MoreWith Christchurch's Mayor Lianne Dalziel winning a second term with over 60,000 votes more than her nearest rival John Minto, the South Island also saw it's longest serving Mayor Tim Shadbolt of Invercargill return to office for a record eighth time.
Read MoreThis can be the story of these local elections. Two young Korean siblings Linda Chen and Catherine Chu - daughters of Korean immigrants who came to New Zealand almost two decades back - winning their respective community board elections is not an everyday occurrence. Linda who gathered 3391 votes won the Harewood Ward of the Fendalton-Waimairi-Harewood Community Board. While Catherine came out as a victor in the Riccarton Ward of the Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton Community Board with 2074 votes.
Read MoreRosibel a trained Spanish-English interpreter working with Interpreting Canterbury for the past one year moved to Christchurch six years back from her native Mexico City after marrying a Kiwi. Here she shares her initial struggle, her path to becoming a trained interpreter, and the challenges and rewards her job brings everyday.
Read MoreFormed soon after the 2011 February earthquakes, the Community Language Information Network Group (CLING) has been serving the culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities in Christchurch by communicating and disseminating information for the last half a decade.
Read MoreFor third year in a row, Homeland - the multimedia multicultural performance show organised by the Chinese Culture Association (CCA) in collaboration with the Canterbury Migrants Centre (CMC) has been hailed as a huge success.
Read MoreThe Canterbury Migrants Centre (CMC), earlier known as Christchurch Migrants Centre, has recently formally reviewed its operations, vision as well as the direction, and has restructured its modus operandi. George Clark, earlier the Chair of the Centre's Board and now the Managing trustee shared the reasons behind the changes.
Read MoreGiving a major boost to long-time Labour member, lawyer, academic and activist - Duncan Webb's campaign for the Christchurch Central electorate in 2017, Party's leader Andrew Little formally launched his campaign office in the city recently.
Read MoreThe case in question is the last month order by the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) awarding Kapilaben Patel, a migrant worker from Gujarat, India, $31,413.19 for unpaid wages, working on public holidays, and holiday pay; and a further $11,400 as reimbursement of the money paid in contravention of 12(A) of the Wages Protection Act.
Read MoreA food court in the Northcote Shopping Centre will pay $164,397 for their serious breaches of employment law, following an investigation by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s (MBIE) Labour Inspectorate.
Read MoreChristchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel, and her challenger John Minto (right), at the Mayoral Debate on "A Climate-Smart Christchurch". Held on September 22, the discussion was moderated by Catarina Gutierrez from the Ministry of Awesome. The event was organised by Generation Zero and 350 Christchurch.
Read MoreHTG and social trends research company, Windshift, have just completed a major research project among migrants. "We spent 100 hours conducting in-home interviews as well as a national survey comparing NZ born and migrant New Zealanders. We found that migrants tend to be highly educated middle class people who are savvy consumers and well disposed towards New Zealand brands. Migrants are loyal to brands that clearly demonstrate they value migrants’ business. Sixty five percent are educated to degree level or above compared with just 36% of those that are New Zealand born. And 72% consider themselves financially stable or prospering, compared with 54% of New Zealand born," notes Windshift.
Read MoreAs a follow up to their July workshop, Anna Filippochkina of CLANZ (Community Languages Association of New Zealand) and Angela Bland of CANTESOL and TESOLNZ (Teachers of Speakers of Other Languages), organised a second workshop for professional development of community language teachers on September 28. The highlight of the session was a guest lecture by Una Cunningham, Associate Professor at College of Education, University of Canterbury, on "Keeping it real: authenticity, task and meaning-focused language teaching".
Read MoreOn September 23, Chinese Consulate General in Christchurch held the reception to celebrate the 67th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. More than 200 people attended the function, including Customs and Disability issues Minister Nicky Wagner, Members of Parliament Megan Woods, Ruth Dyson, Poto Williams and Joanna Hayes, Special Advisor and Director Christchurch for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Amb. Phillip Gibson, Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel and 6 other South Island Mayors, and friends from various circles, representatives of Chinese community, Chinese enterprises and overseas students in the consular districts.
Read MoreOpened in 2008, Gandharva Loka is what it calls itself "the world music store in Christchurch" providing a wide range of musical instruments sourced from around the world.
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Located in Heathcote in Christchurch and open seven days a week, the Park features an early 1900s (Edwardian) township, with exhibits such as houses, picture theatre, school classroom, church, jail, railway station, lodge hall, post office, printers, tobacconist, general store, lawyer’s office and more. For steam train enthusiasts, the next train ride is scheduled on Nov 6.
Read MoreSince 2001, visitors from around the globe have been treated to the "twin-wonders" of Nelson in the form of the World of WearableArt and Classic Cars Museum. Displaying one of Australasia's largest private collections of vintage cars, visitors are also treated to over 70 World of WearableArt garments.
Read MoreI am passionate to assist fellow migrants and their affairs. In 2015, I conducted free law clinics at the Christchurch Migrants Centre, offering advice to migrants on matters relating to Immigration, their employment rights, as well property and business affairs. I am always available to lend a helping hand to anyone in need, especially migrants who need a lot of support to settle in New Zealand, be it legally and socially.
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