2025 Welcoming Ottawa Ambassadors

Annie Victoire Aminfack Ndonfack’s family faced many challenges after immigrating from Cameroon in 2023 through the Ontario provincial nominee program.

Initially they had planned to live in Toronto, but two days before arriving, their house rental agreement fell through. So, the family of seven (Annie Victore, her husband and children aged 15, 10, 7 and five-year-old twins) stayed with the cousin of a friend of her brother-in-law in Valleyfield, Québec.

They decided on Ottawa as their next destination, but without jobs and her husband studying full time, housing options were limited.

A friend told them about Résilience Active des Familles Immigrantes en Ontario (RAFIO). Then she met Antoinette Irarera, the organization’s executive director, whose smile, and kindness immediately reduced her stress.

They had already visited settlement organization that couldn’t serve them as they were already permanent residents. “At RAFIO, we felt listened to and supported,” remembers Annie Victoire. “For the first time since arriving in Canada, I began to forget my problems. We won a family in Canada.”

Antoinette helped the family find a home (with her brother-in-lawyer and his cousin’s friend acting as guarantors), connected them to a food bank in Vanier and gave them winter clothing.

As Annie Victoire embarked on her studies in “Techniques de travail social” at the Collège La Cité, she worried about where she would find a placement. She had finding a placement because she wasn’t bilingual.

Her teacher approached RAFIO as a placement for her and Antoinette accepted her. “She believed in me and trusted my teacher’s recommendation,” explains Annie Victoire. “She’s like a big sister, who showed me the ropes. Antoinette made me feel like I belonged in Canada.”

 RAFIO, a small organization without much government funding opened doors for Annie Victoire and provided valuable experience. “She trusted me to lead activities and projects and write reports,” explains Annie Victoire. “At the end of the placement, she invited me to continue as a volunteer, as this could lead to future job prospects.”

She does not currently receive funding and hopes that by working together on funding projects, this can be achieved. “She even offered my CV to her partners and recommended me very well so that they could recruit me, but unfortunately the available positions were intended for bilingual people. Since I had no response when applying for other positions, she offered me to work with her in the hope of obtaining funding that would allow her to recruit me.” Her 15-year-old son volunteers there too.

“I treat people how I would like to have been treated when I arrived here as a refugee. I had to leave a particularly good job in Burundi and a comfortable standard of living, because I was in danger. Claiming asylum, I felt reduced to zero.”

Antoinette remembers how she lived in a precarious situation at a homeless shelter when she first arrived in Ottawa. “At that point, I wondered if I would survive,” she says. She had left behind two adopted daughters, one in Rwanda and the other in Burundi, in a remote part of the country for her secondary education. She had left a large part of her means in Burundi when she fled. “I knew if I came through this situation, I would go on to help others.”

She learned about resilience and perseverance along the way. After trying everywhere to find safer housing where she wouldn’t experience racism and rudeness, she convinced some nuns to take her in. “It was a ray of hope,” she says. “I moved to Harmony House and I found part-time work with a Gatineau family who became good friends.”

CESOC helped her to find a job for a year at the Caisse Populaire Desjardins in the small town of Alfred. With this experience, she was able to find a one-year contract in her dream organization, « Hull en santé”. Eventually her children reunited with her.

Because of her background leading a joint project between UNICEF and “Le Centre Ubuntu” in Burundi, she had always wanted to work for a community organization. Five years ago, she founded RAFIO. “I wanted to create an organization for everyone in the same situation that I had experienced,” remarks Antoinette.

“In Annie Victoire I saw a determined, brave woman,” explains Antoinette. “A busy mother with five children who wasn’t burnt out or complaining but rather was always smiling. Life can be difficult here, with racism and stereotypes about immigrants. I put myself in her place and saw a woman who will go far in life.”

Annie Victoire admires Antoinette’s big heart, impartially, calmness and how she actively listens with empathy. She remembers a Black History Month event, where Antoinette gathered 30 isolated seniors and organized the transportation for them to the suburb of Orléans. She did this at her own expense.

“They didn’t go out much and many had poor mobility,” she says. “I saw how they looked at her with delight as she took the time to speak to everyone at the event. Even while she was on crutches after an accident, she managed to get taxis for each of them to go home.”

Antoinette had lost both her parents in the war and was adopted by a wonderful family. “They showed me how to live and overcome the horror of my past,” explains Antoinette. “They were incredible role models for me and did everything to make me the person I am today.”

Now Annie Victoire looks up to Antoinette in the same way. “She always finds a way to help everyone,” she says. “She’s my role model and I aspire to be like her.”