About 700 newcomers to Windsor-Essex had a front row seat to an emergency exercise to teach them that first responders are their friends.
It was part of a display at the Tilston Armoury in west Windsor on Thursday by local emergency services to introduce the new Canadians to police, fire and paramedics.
Part of the program was an exercise showing emergency crews arriving at the scene of a two-vehicle crash and using the jaws of life to get the driver out.
Organizers say to many newcomers, people in uniforms are there to hurt them, not to help them.
A mock exercise was part of the Emergency Services Open Air Display 2018. May 24, 2018 (Photo by AM800's Teresinha Medeiros)
Windsor police Sergeant Wren Dosant says a lot of the lessons are common sense to Canadians, but not to newcomers.
"Simple things like how to dial 9-1-1 and why and what circumstances to dial 9-1-1, what to do if there is a fire and how to get out," says Dosant.
Manager at the New Canadian Centre of Excellence Rima Nohra says the display will help to reduce the stigma back home.
"When they see someone in uniform, it is to hurt them not to help them. So to them, even fireworks, they relate it to bombing and to war," she says.
Most of the newcomers were recent refugees to Windsor and adult students in government funded english language training programs.