Evaluation of the Overseas Orientation Initiatives

Evaluation Division
Research and Evaluation
July 2012

As per the requirements under the Financial Administration Act, an evaluation of Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s (CIC) Canadian Orientation Abroad (COA) initiative was required in fiscal year 2011/12. COA is one of three in-person pre-departure orientation initiatives funded by the department and CIC is in the process of establishing an overseas orientation strategy to frame immigrants’ orientation needs and its programming priorities regarding pre-departure services. Therefore, the evaluation was expanded to include all three of CIC’s pre-departure orientation initiatives.

Evaluation of the Overseas Orientation Initiatives (PDF, 1.2 MB) (PDF, 1.18MB)

Table of Contents

• List of acronyms
• Executive summary
• Evaluation of CIC’s overseas orientation initiatives — management response
• 1. Introduction
  • 1.1. Purpose of evaluation
  • 1.2. Profile of CIC’s pre-departure orientation initiatives
    • 1.2.1. Canadian orientation abroad
    • 1.2.2. Active Engagement and Integration Project
    • 1.2.3. Canadian Immigrant Integration Program
    • 1.2.4. Cost for CIC’s pre-departure orientation initiatives
• 2. Methodology
  • 2.1. Evaluation issues and questions
  • 2.2.Evaluation scope
  • 2.3. Data collection methods
    • 2.3.1. Interviews
    • 2.3.2. Administrative data analysis
    • 2.3.3. Site visits
    • 2.3.4. Focus groups with live-in caregivers
    • 2.3.5. Analysis of COA survey responses
    • 2.3.6. Federal skilled worker survey
    • 2.3.7. Document review
  • 2.4. Limitations and considerations
• 3. Evaluation findings
  • 3.1. Relevance
    • 3.1.1. Need for in-person pre-departure orientation
    • 3.1.2. Provincial and federal roles in in-person pre-departure orientation
    • 3.1.3. Alignment with government-wide priorities and CIC settlement objectives
  • 3.2. Design and implementation
    • 3.2.1. Alignment of CIC’s pre-departure orientation initiatives with one another
    • 3.2.2. Effectiveness of governance structures
    • 3.2.3. Appropriateness of location and target groups of pre-departure orientation
    • 3.2.4. Program participation and potential barriers
  • 3.3. Program performance
    • 3.3.1. Satisfaction with, timing of, and usefulness of pre-departure orientation information
    • 3.3.2. Impact of pre-departure orientation on newcomer knowledge of life in Canada
    • 3.3.3. Accuracy of information and impact on expectations
    • 3.3.4. Usefulness of pre-departure orientation on preparation for employment
    • 3.3.5. Efficiency of CIC’s pre-departure orientation initiatives
• 4. Conclusions and recommendations
• Appendix A: Evaluation matrix for pre-departure orientation initiatives

Technical appendices are available upon request to Research_Recherche@cic.gc.ca

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