EVDS grad student continues to battle barriers

By Joe Obad

Environmental Design student Mimosa Arienzo knows a lot about overcoming barriers.

When she first arrived in Calgary, she couldn’t get a job, despite her proficiency in English and a degree in international relations from the University of Rome.

She ended up working at the Calgary Multicultural Centre, in part because it was the only place that would take her.

“At the centre, I worked with people like myself experiencing barriers, and became more and more interested in this question of how a country like Canada invites immigrants here only for them to face a multitude of  language, cultural, physical and other barriers.”

That experience led to a thesis on the obstacles immigrants face in accessing social services in Calgary, as part of her final year studying planning in EVDS.

Arienzo describes her move from being a frontline worker to studying the larger problems faced by immigrants as a shift in scale.

In Environmental Design, we’re always being pushed to look at problems at the scale most appropriate to solving them, so when I went to study [this issue] it wasn’t a big move, but a change in scale from the front line towards addressing systemic barriers that affect immigrants.”

Arienzo’s findings formed part of her successful application to complete her PhD at the U of C’s Faculty of Social Work and led to a recent funding award through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council’s (SSHERC) Canada Graduate Scholarships Doctoral Scholarship.

Arienzo’s doctorate will focus on a comparative analysis of Australian and Canadian immigration and labour policy.

Arienzo hopes to provide recommendations to policy makers that will lead to better immigration policy in Canada, and hopefully fewer foreign doctors washing dishes when they arrive here.

“It is a gift to be able to study and contribute,” she says. “I never thought I would love it as much as I do.”

Loraine Fowlow, interim dean of EVDS, says Arienzo has already made a significant contribution. “At the municipal scale, she’s created bridges where there were information gaps.”

Now, Arienzo is facing another barrier—the biggest one of her life. She’s been diagnosed with terminal gastric cancer. She’s endured chemotherapy while continuing her research and despite her prognosis, works as much as she is able.

“Mimosa’s health has to come first, but it’s a testament to her that even as she’s fought her illness, she’s lit the way for future substantial work by herself and others,” says Fowlow.

Arienzo would not have it any other way.  “I could start preparing for my funeral, or choose to keep living,” she says. “So I work an hour here and hour there as I can. I play with my two girls and enjoy time with my husband, Marco. I choose to live.”