ARCHIVED – Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada – Client profile and performance indicators

Executive Summary

  • The Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) program provides basic language training to adult permanent residents in one of Canada’s official languages. For this report, special tabulations from the Immigration Contribution Accountability Measurement System (iCAMS) and the History of Assessments, Referrals and Training system (HARTs) provided the basis for a demographic profile and performance indicators for the LINC program.
  • Since the implementation of the LINC program, an average of 36,800 clients per year were assessed for LINC training, 52,500 clients per year had received training and roughly 19,900 clients completed at least one training course per year.
  • The demographic characteristics outlined below are specific to LINC clients who have completed LINC courses and the descriptions and trends detailed below are largely in line with those of the populations of assessed clients and clients in training.
    • Skilled workers (principal applicants and spouses and dependants) account for the largest number of LINC clients each year, followed by family class immigrants, refugees, and other economic immigrants.
    • The LINC client population is dominated by females, who account for close to three-quarters of the population.
    • Ontario clearly accounts for the majority (85 percent during the 2003 to 2008 period) of the LINC clients. However, the share in Ontario has declined by 6 percent since 2003 as a result of both a decrease in the number of Ontario clients and an increase in the number of clients in Alberta and Nova Scotia.
    • Roughly equal shares of LINC clients are university educated immigrants (including those with graduate degrees) or have secondary education or less.
    • The majority (59 percent) of clients who complete LINC courses do so within the first two years following landing.
    • China is the top country of birth for LINC clients in all provinces. Depending on the year, clients who were born in China account for 25-30 percent of clients. The trends observed by provinces are generally consistent with landings of permanent residents.
    • Consistent with the trends observed for country of birth, individuals with Mandarin as a mother tongue make up between 20-25 percent of LINC clients at the national level on an annual basis. Spanish and Arabic account for roughly 10 percent of clients.
  • In order to measure the performance of clients that have enrolled in the LINC program, a composite measure of language ability based on CLB (Canadian Language Benchmark) entry and exit scores is used. The composite measure is derived using CLB scores upon entry and exit of a completed LINC course. The difference between these composite measures is then used to measure client performance.
  • Given the methodology used above, roughly 19 out of 20 (94.3 percent) clients who complete a LINC course either meet or exceed the language competencies associated with the LINC level they completed. In contrast, 1 out of 20 (5.6 percent) clients who complete a LINC course do not meet the language competencies associated with the LINC level they completed.

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