Mohammad Idriss: Living Life for the Community

• Mohammad Idriss is one of the founders of the Brooks & County Immigration Services, or BCIS, and is a highly contributing member of the Brooks community. 

• Mohammad was born in Ethiopia and moved to Saudi Arabia as a young child.  

• After spending a few years in Pakistan, Mohammad moved to Brooks with his wife, planning to stay three months, just like everyone else, before moving to Vancouver.  

• Then he discovered the current immigration services in Brooks. He started volunteering there and was soon offered a job. 

• He realized he wanted his children to have a place to call home, a community that would care for him and his children, and decided to stay in Brooks. 

• In 2010, BCIS was launched, a program that Mohammad helped build. BCIS is a program for refugees, or for people who have immigrated to Canada and are struggling to establish themselves. BCIS can help with the language barrier, employment, and navigating the health system. 

• When asked why he is so involved in the Brooks community, Mohammad said that it was rooted in the principles his father had instilled in him when he was young, that if you don’t believe you are home, you won’t contribute, and that life lived for yourself isn’t worth living. If no one will remember you five years after you pass, you didn’t try very hard to help and improve your community. 

• Mohammad is also a member of the Brooks City Council because he believes representation matters.  

• Mohammad demonstrates his heart for his community in all he does. “Make every place you live home. Our lives aren’t measured by how well we lived but by our impact on the lives around us.”  

Bibliography 

Idriss, Mohammad. “Interview.” Conducted by Kathy Ramer and Kaetrianne Ramer,  

January 26, 2024.