Our History
The story of PIRS
Founded in 1975 by a group of visionary women, including Beverly Nann and Carole Ann Soong, Pacific Immigrant Resources Society (PIRS) was established to address the settlement needs of isolated immigrant mothers through an ESL program with a preschool component. Almost 50 years later, PIRS is recognized as a pioneer and leader in the settlement field, offering a wide range of accessible, inclusive, low-barrier programs for immigrant and refugee women and their children that create a sense of belonging, meaningful participation and leadership.
Timeline
In the spring of 1975, an application to the Secretary of State was made to begin a project called “The Immigrant Resources Project”, under the sponsorship of the Strathcona Community Centre Association. Beverly Nann, Carole Ann Soong and other visionaries saw the need for an ESL program with a preschool…Read More
In 1984, the Project changed its name to become “Pacific Immigrant Resources Society” and officially incorporated as a non-profit society. For the first time, it established a Fundraising Committee to help the Society broaden its reach. With the help of the Board, its core staff and a great number of…Read More
By 1995, PIRS’ mission was focused to “ensure that immigrant women and preschoolers can participate fully in Canadian community life”.
In 2012, PIRS launched its Moving Ahead program in partnership with S.U.C.C.E.S.S., a collaborative, holistic and participant-centered initiative which applies a “wraparound” approach to help support immigrant and refugee women through regular outreach and home visitation.
In 2013, PIRS launched HIPPY (Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters) in collaboration with MOSAIC, our second home visiting program which extended our relationships with women and families who are yet unable to participate in mainstream services.
2015 marked the celebration of PIRS’ 40th Anniversary. That year alone, 458 immigrant women and 34 children and 26 countries of origin participated in our programs.
In late 2015, PIRS set out to fill a gap and respond to the needs of newly arrived refugee women and their young children. Language Instruction for Newcomers (LINC) programs had long waitlists, especially for women who needed childcare. We wanted to be more flexible, responsive and use a trauma…Read More
With new funding from Seedlings Foundation, we expanded the Building Bridges program into Burnaby and at the initiative of one of our graduates, Natalia Verand, we revived the International Women’s Networking Table, a mini-conference that brought over 70 women together to discuss health, leadership and positive communication.
PIRS partnered with Vancouver Community College to deliver the Entry to Hospitality Careers for Women, which trained a total of 33 immigrant and refugee women for entry-level positions in senior homes, kitchens, and hotels.
In the fall of 2016, PIRS partnered with the Vancouver School Board to deliver the Vancouver Early Years Refugee Program. The program includes a home visitor program and a refugee focused StrongStart program, and served 141 children from 100 families in 2016.
2017 was a significant year for PIRS. We experienced considerable growth and our budget nearly doubled. Therefore, we were able to expand programs and pilot new ones. With new funding and generous donations, PIRS responded to the Syrian Refugee crisis by delivering a Pop-Up Family program to refugees living in…Read More
In 2019, PIRS launched 2 new exciting initiatives: the Mobile Child Care Project (later, Pop Up Child Care) and Learning Journeys. Pop Up Child Care aims to solve two problems: the need in service agencies and community organizations for occasional childcare services, and the high rate of unemployment in the…Read More
As part of the COVID-19 pandemic response in 2020, PIRS conducted a comprehensive needs assessment with over 350 participants and identified that food access was one of the most pressing needs in our community. As the result, thanks to generous donations and support of community partners, we started two community-based…Read More
In 2020-2021, 3,166 food hampers were delivered, providing 11,035 individual healthy meals. Following this project, Food Security Research Project in partnership with Institute for Sustainable Food Systems (ISFS) at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) and Food Skills For Families program were started.
2022 was an important milestone in the development of Canada’s universal child care system. Since its very beginning in 1975, PIRS recognized the importance of child care for immigrant mothers. This is why our programs always provided high-quality care and early education for children while mothers were in class. As the…Read More
Cyndy Chan, an IWAC member and education professional from Hong Kong, led an advocacy project examining systemic discrimination in Canada’s job market, where employers often reject newcomers for lacking Canadian work experience. Read more about Cyndy’s story in CBC News and on the PIRS blog.
Through evocative photographs and stories, participants explored their experiences of exclusion, inclusion and belonging within the childcare system. The project can now be viewed online.
CLG shared critical insights on the barriers faced by immigrant and refugee women in accessing early learning and childcare, highlighting the need to improve employment opportunities for racialized professionals and promote anti-racism practices.
This specialized program equips immigrant women facing barriers with the skills to become licensed Early Childhood Educator Assistants. The initiative creates pathways to meaningful careers in childcare while addressing both workforce demands and newcomer employment needs.
Childcare Leadership Group member Regine Zhang and PIRS Executive Director Mariam Bouchoutrouch presented a session focused on the importance of childcare for gender equity in migration and the impacts of a lack of childcare on immigrant women’s settlement.
PIRS mission is to deliver accessible, inclusive, low-barrier programs for immigrant and refugee women and their children that create a sense of belonging, meaningful participation and leadership. Thanks to BC’s Services and Assistance for Humanitarian and Vulnerable Newcomers (BC SAF HVN), PIRS is now able to provide personalized community resource…Read More
Our successful program, offering specialized English training and Responsible Adult certification for newcomer women, has doubled its reach. With new funding from IRCC, we’ve launched two additional cohorts and expanded to Surrey, making childcare career training more accessible across Metro Vancouver.
Thanks to renewed funding from Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE), we are scaling up our efforts to advance change in the childcare system so that it can meet the diverse needs of those most affected.
This project works to ensure immigrant women have a stronger voice in childcare decisions. This partnership will develop a national community of practice on child care advocacy to increase access and capacity of underrepresented women to participate in Early Learning and Child Care advocacy spaces, in targeted urban areas across…Read More
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| Read more about our yearly milestones in our Annual General Meeting Reports. |
Who We Are
About PIRS
Our Community
Reports and Financials
27,502
Women and children served
Since 1975, PIRS served 17,716 women and 9,116 children and counting.
84
Women trained
84 women completed training programs in 2023 to become more effective leaders in their codmmunities.
3,679
Food hampers distributed
448 people continue to be served weekly through the emergency Food Hub.
