COMMUNITY
Driving Dreams: Helping Newcomer Women Get Their Ontario Driver’s Licences
A partnership with CAA Niagara aims to empower women and promote independence through access to transportation.
By Mira D’Costa
Amena Seerat arrived in Canada from Afghanistan with a dream of becoming mobile and independent. She would achieve this goal by learning to drive. Through an initiative called Driving Our Future Together, Seerat obtained that autonomy and so much more. The program was created to address a common barrier faced by newcomer women: limited access to reliable transportation. Encouraging transportation equity — with such things as driving skills — promotes independence, leading to professional and personal growth. Ultimately, this helps families succeed. The partnership between CAA Niagara, AAPEX Driving Academy and Bridges Niagara Immigrant and Refugee Services is helping to serve this need — and it’s changing lives.
Seerat says she used to depend heavily on her husband and public transit to accomplish daily tasks and attend appointments. “This limited my freedom,” she says. “And I wanted to gain my independence and build a better future for my family in Canada.” Driving Our Future Together helps newcomer women acquire the skills to obtain an Ontario driver’s licence. It helps prepare them for their driving test while reinforcing road-safety awareness and explaining how Ontario’s licensing system works.
For newcomers, the ability to drive promotes independence, which can lead to professional and personal growth. | PHOTO: JUANMONINO/iSTOCK
The impact for Seerat went beyond the mechanics of learning to drive. “[It] built my confidence from the ground up and helped me overcome my fear of driving in a new country. It also positively changed my family’s perspective on women’s mobility and independence.”
Bridges Niagara Immigrant and Refugee Services provides settlement services, language training, employment assistance, community programs and specialized initiatives that address barriers faced by newcomers. “For many graduates, earning a driver’s licence represents much more than mobility,” says Bridges’s executive director Marie Mouradikian. “It creates new possibilities for employment, education, family life and meaningful participation in the community.”
Seerat says earning her licence has transformed her life. She can now manage family responsibilities independently and pursue employment, education and volunteer opportunities that would have been difficult to access by public transit.
Her Ontario licence is more than a piece of plastic, she says. It’s a pathway to independence. CAA
Bridges Niagara Immigrant and Refugee Services provides settlement support, language training and other assistance. | PHOTO: COURTESY OF BRIDGES NIAGARA IMMIGRANT AND REFUGEE SERVICES
“[It] built my confidence from the ground up and helped me overcome my fear of driving in a new country. It also positively changed my family’s perspective on women’s mobility and independence.”
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