Middlesex County Joins LMLIP's #AllAreWelcomeHere Campaign, Spreading Message of Inclusion

Leslie-Anne Steeper-Doxtator, supervisor of the Coldstream Public Library, holds a lawn sign of the #AllAreWelcomeHere campaign, which began being distributed to county residents last week

A campaign by the London and Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership (LMLIP) aimed at making the London area a more welcoming community for newcomers has now expanded to Middlesex County.

Since last week, the county began distributing lawn signs to the public with the message #AllAreWelcomeHere through its network of public libraries.

The #AllAreWelcomeHere campaign was born in 2017 following community consultation after several cases in which people were verbally or physically assaulted for being immigrants in the London region.

The incidents included a woman who was punched and had her hijab pulled by a stranger while at a city supermarket and a Colombian family who was attacked by a bat-wielding man at a parking lot in St. Thomas.

“The main goal of the campaign is to create conversations about immigration, immigrants and send a message that everybody is welcome here,” said Huda Hussein, LMLIP’s project manager.

“Besides the First Nations, we’re all settlers at the end of the day, so why don’t we try to communicate with each other better?”

Given the size of the county, using the network of public libraries to distribute the signs to people was the most efficient way of doing it given how embedded they are in the different communities, said Lindsay Brock, the county’s director of library services.

“We really are that source for information and a great way to distribute things to all the communities when we're at such a distance from each other,” she said.

“The philosophy behind the #AllAreWelcomeHere campaign also fits with what we, as a library, strive to do. We are that welcoming space; we are that community hub, and we’re always looking for ways on how we can reflect that and how we can communicate that.”

It’s not the first time the campaign has expanded beyond London’s boundaries.

The #AllAreWlecomeHere program, for instance, has been copied and adapted by other community groups and local immigration partnerships in places like Nova Scotia and British Columbia, Hussein said.

Since its inception, LMLIP has distributed nearly 3,000 lawn signs and close to 2,000 car decals.

“And we are printing more,” Hussein said.

Residents in Middlesex County interested in getting a lawn sign are asked to call ahead their local branch and arrange a pickup time.