People of Georgian: Student award winner a champion for equality

What’s your story?

The Georgian community is full of unique, inspiring perspectives —and we’re sharing them as part of an ongoing series.

People of Georgian: Meet Celine Daher

My parents are immigrants from Lebanon, so I speak Arabic and I’ve done a lot of work with Syrian refugees.

I’ve helped refugee families establish their new lives in Canada, as well as co-ordinated a few fundraisers for them. I’ve helped furnish their houses and filled their fridges so that they’re ready to settle in when they arrive from the airport.

I also once co-ordinated an anti-hate rally in Peterborough in response to an anti-immigrant rally that happened there.

Parents inspire Celine to help others

A lot of this is inspired by my parents.

They are the most giving people I’ve ever met. They’re always helping others, and I want to carry that torch in my life.

Two adults sit with linked arms at a table in a restaurant. — *Celine and her father.*

‘I get to represent my community’

I didn’t have a lot of representation growing up in Barrie. My dad was basically one of the first Arabs to move here, so I didn’t really have any friends that looked like me or any teachers I could relate to.

Now, it feels good to work in an industry where representation matters.

The voices of different communities really, really matter in research.

I get to represent my community, and I feel really proud and excited for my next steps and to see where they take me.

A group of people stand together outside and hold silver helium balloons that spell 2020.

Two people stand beside a river and hug.

Celine seeks more ways to help

Still, sometimes I feel like I’m not doing enough to help. With everything that’s going on in the world, there’s only so much you can do.

For instance, I’ve been a vegetarian for six years and that is probably not going to fix the environment, but I’m doing what I can, where I can.

A person stands outside in front of a hilly landscape of fields and buildings in the distance.

‘We’re all human, we’re all the same’

It’s hard to go back home and see the struggle there and then come back to Canada and live such a privileged life.

It’s a privilege to be able to turn a blind eye to those kinds of things – to know there are people out there who need help and not do something about it.

Any one of us could have been born in a different country and ended up in different circumstances. What makes us any different than the people born in other countries that are struggling?

We’re all human, we’re all the same, and we all deserve equal opportunity.

Celine Daher, a student in Georgian’s Research Analyst program. She recently won a 2023 Dig-BIPOC Leaders of Tomorrow Scholarship, which promotes the representation of minority groups in the market research industry.

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