Providing students opportunity to learn in a variety of languages not only helps youth strengthen their ties to their cultural identity and maintain their heritage, it helps them build better language and literacy skills.

If elected, we will develop a Somali curriculum for interested schools.

It keeps students engaged with learning, and keeps them in school. A sense of belonging inside the classroom can make a significant difference in a student's confidence and how captivated they are with their school.

Alberta currently offers 26 languages for study, outside of English and French, including Arabic, Blackfoot, Cantonese, German, Spanish, and more.

Embracing the different languages and cultures of everyone that decides to come to Alberta will not only give families a sense of belonging, it will strengthen our province as a whole by helping people from all walks of life succeed here.

Newcomers from African nations are the fastest growing population in Alberta with most coming from Nigeria, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia.

Data shows that of the 34,320 people who moved to Alberta from Africa between 2016 and 2021, almost half settled in Calgary.

In many towns and cities in Alberta, we are seeing a significant rise in the number of Somali refugees and immigrant students and we must support this community's important contributions to the province.