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MAZEL TOV - MILA
At the AJFCA (Association for Jewish Family and Children's Agency) Annual Conference in Baltimore on April 17th, Mila Voihanski, Executive Director of JIAS Canada was honoured with a "Distinguished Service Award". Below is the citation from the brochure distributed at the dinner where Mila was honoured. We are very proud of this special recognition.
Mila Voihanski symbolizes the hopes, dreams, determination and vitality that immigrants bring to our countries and to our Jewish communities. She was born and raised with her sister in Lvov, Ukraine. The family withstood the efforts of the communist regime to stamp out their sense of Yiddishkeit and eventually made their way to Israel.
In 1974, Mila came to Canada and began to assist other newcomers to the Toronto community as a volunteer translator (she spoke Russian, English and Hebrew) at the Jewish Immigrant Aid Services of Canada (JIAS). With the large influx of Russian and Moroccan Jewish immigrants to the Toronto community, and with the recognition of her skills in language, as well as her quick learning of the immigration process and settlement issues faced by newcomers, Mila was hired as a staff member. She rose through the ranks of JIAS to become a team supervisor, then Executive Director of JIAS Toronto.
During the 27 years that she worked at JIAS Toronto, Mila initiated numerous settlement and integration projects for immigrants of all ages. She contributed to the development of new immigration policies and established a strong network with both service providers and government officials.
Since 2003 she has been the National Executive Director of JIAS Canada. Her expert knowledge and professionalism are widely recognized, and her advice and help are sought by Jewish communities in Canada and the US as well as by officials at the highest levels of the Canadian Government Immigration service and other NGO’s serving immigrants.
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