In addition to a Canadian education, a group of students who come to the region as part of the Canada Home Stay Network leave with a special gift to remember their time in Barrie.
Eric Macdonald and Michelle Ouellette, who have been hosting international students as part of the program since 2019, told BarrieToday they love showcasing their Canadian pride to the students they host.
“We became empty-nesters and we are too young for that,” Macdonald said. “We had a house and we had close friends of ours who had hosted and they talked about it, so we decided to open up our home. We know that we are creating 50-year memories for them. We are almost like the same relationship a coach has with their team. When they come home, they’re not our kids, but they are our kids.”
“We love the opportunity,” added Ouellette, who told BarrieToday they have had 15 international students come through their Barrie home.
The couple says they work hard to give the students who stay with them a safe place to call home, adding they also strive to showcase the country they love and wanted to send the teens back home at the end of their stay with something to help them remember their time in Canada.
And what better way to do that, they thought, than a bright red and white Canadian flag.
When the couple decided to present their students with Canadian flags as a welcome gift, Macdonald started looking into where he could find the flags, and ultimately decided to contact his federal representative, Barrie-Innisfil MP John Brassard.
“When we reached out to his office and asked if he could get us some flags, he said absolutely. We are ambassadors and John has even helped set up a tour of Parliament for these kids," Macdonald said.
It was during a trip to the nation’s capital that the couple decided to snap a photo of the six students who joined them holding the flags of their own home country, which they then had framed, plagued and presented to Brassard on Tuesday (Dec. 20) as a thank-you for his support and generosity.
“He’s indispensable to us and these kids benefit from it,” Ouellette said.
As the students come here to learn about Canada, what better way to get them started that to give them a Canadian flag, Brassard told BarrieToday.
"I have been working with Eric for some time with the students he has hosted to help them understand our political system and answer questions they might have," Brassard said.
"I also have an open invitation for Eric, Michelle and the students to come to Ottawa and tour parliament with me when I am there or my staff when I’m not," the MP added. "Centre Block is the most iconic, most recognized building in Canada and having them pose in front of it with the flags of their countries — and the fact that they took the time to take that picture and present it to me — meant a lot to me. It’s already hanging in my Barrie-Innisfil constituency office."
