This story of part of Kelowna Capital News’s 34th edition of Women Who Dare (formerly Women in Business).
For many immigrants, the daunting task of starting a new life in a foreign country can be a lifelong challenge.
Coming to a country, with no support network, and varying understandings of a new language creates barriers in all aspects of life from social to financial.
In Canada, the immigrant story is shared by at least 8.3 million people who are or have been a landed immigrant or permanent resident, according to a 2021 Statistics Canada census.
For Kelowna’s Fei Liu, the story and plight of immigrants is not only one that she shares, but one she uses to strive for a better life for all Canadian newcomers.
Liu is the executive director of the Okanagan Chinese Communities Association (OCCA), a non-for-profit that assists immigrants through various services and promotes multiculturalism.
Liu had stepped into the role of executive director in 2023, moving to the Okanagan from Vancouver. She said she was specifically sought out for the OCCA job due to her experience working for non-profit organizations in Vancouver.
She said the job was a big change for her and her family, but she loves what she does everyday.
“Because we are a member of racialized groups, we really see those challenges, that’s our first-hand experience. We want to build up a good platform for racialized groups to speak up, to access equitable resources, and also to build up a brighter future for our next generation. So for all those reasons, we made the decision to quit my job in Vancouver and moved my family to Kelowna,” she said.
As said, Liu herself is an immigrant, originally from Beijing, China.
She first moved to Canada in September 2012, relocating to Regina where she stayed for five years.
“As a newcomer, international student at the time, I just felt a lack of support and navigation. I had to navigate myself through how to gather academic success at school,” she said. “It was a totally different style than what I experienced in China.”
These cultural barriers would also extend into her day-to-day life. Even things like grocery stores are different from what she was used to in China, marking another learning experience she had to overcome.
She said she’s seen many immigrants face such barriers. Liu said some of the main issues faced by immigrants are a lack of a social network and a lack of knowledge of systemic operations, such as reporting crime to the RCMP for example.
“If kids are born in Canada (to immigrant parents) they still face barriers. Because their parents might lack knowledge about this society, about this education system, their parents might not know how to communicate with their teacher at school,” Liu said.
In Regina, Liu would start her career in helping other immigrants, as she volunteered for the Regina Immigrant Women Centre.
She said female immigrants – especially mothers – particularly faced hardships. She added many female immigrants had to take care of their children and oftentimes weren’t considered as “key contributors” within their cultures.
“I met so many immigrants, female immigrants, and I observed their challenges and their barriers. Especially as a mother,” she said. “It’s very important to empower immigrant women, to empower their kids, the next generations.”
Seeing and experiencing these barriers faced by immigrants shapes the work Liu does at OCCA.
For example, Liu said the OCCA has specific programs to help adult and young female immigrants, including a collaboration with Fora Network for Change to “engage the young girls in our communities and send them to the board roles training and the leadership training so that they can gain the leadership skills and knowledge in Canada.”
She highlighted other programs within the OCCA such as: Job Connect for Future, which provides skills training; female immigrant entrepreneur support; legal consultation and an anti-racism initiative made in collaboration with the B.C. government’s 2024 anti-racism act.
Liu said she believes multiculturalism is important to society, and tries to promote different cultures.
“I see multiculturalism should be about different connections, and that’s the work I’m doing. I try to connect all different ethnic groups,” she said.
“Every group has a different unique heritage, and when we put them together people can learn from each other. (OCCA features) not only Asian groups, but Black communities, Latin communities and Indigenous communities and we all just learn from each other.”
She said promoting multiculturalism breaks stereotypes as well as allows groups to support each other.
As an example, Liu said many different ethnic groups in Kelowna came out to support the Filipino community in the Okanagan in the wake of the 2025 Lapu-Lapu festival tragedy.
Liu said promoting multiculturalism helps make more resilient communities, and helps racialized people engage with their community.
Liu said community engagement – such as her volunteerism – was an important aspect of her life that helped her continue learning through her adult life.
“I appreciate that Canada gave me the opportunity to empower myself and to have the freedom to conduct this community engagement and also learn from people of very diverse backgrounds,” she said.
Liu hopes to get more immigrants involved in community and civic engagement.
She also thanked and admired the previous OCCA executive director and current president Hua Meng for her 16 years of work for the organization.
“She just put in so much effort, so much time as a woman immigrant.”
Article Credit: kelownacapnews