Vancouver Island Multicultural Society is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, and its leaders are looking back on the growth and successes of the organization.

The society was formed in 1979 in response to the influx of Vietnamese refugees after the Vietnam War. Hilde Schlosar, the society’s executive director, explained that the society has since broadened to help immigrants, new citizens, and most recently, temporary foreign workers.

Schlosar says that the society is now able to help many temporary foreign workers thanks to recent funding from British Columbia’s provincial government. The system is designed to help the workers integrate into Canadian life.

“They’re shopping, they’re doing business, they’re banking, they’re participating in many different things in the community and we’re the ones who give them the tools to be able to do it and understand what our processes are,” Schlosar said. “Everything from traffic laws to our medical system to our banking system to how to do a Canadian-style résumé and what employers expect.”

To celebrate their successes, the society partnered with the Nanaimo Museum for Canada: Day 1, an exhibit about immigration to Canada from the early 20th century. The exhibit runs until September 1, 2014.