CIMM – Settlement and Integration – Afghan Arrivals – February 8, 2023
Key Messages
- Canada’s settlement services help newcomers integrate into the Canadian labour market and society, and build a successful life in Canada.
- The federal government is investing approximately $1.098B in the Settlement Program in 2022-2023, to support the settlement and integration of newcomers to Canada (outside of Quebec, which is covered by the Canada-Québec Accord).
- This investment reflects the Government’s recognition that strong settlement services provide newcomers with a solid foothold to contribute to Canadian society in the years to come.
- The Government is seized with the diverse needs of Afghan arrivals. In response to the accelerated pace of Afghan arrivals, my Department launched a national Afghanistan Steering Committee, which brings together Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP) service provider organizations from across the country.
- Its mandate is to provide a dedicated forum for ongoing engagement and dialogue on challenges, lessons learned, and innovative best practices related to the settlement and integration of Afghan newcomers.
- My Department is proactively working with service provider organizations across Canada to resettle Afghans to a network of about 37 communities across Canada, including small centres, where they are supported in finding housing and accessing resettlement services to ensure their successful integration.
Supplementary Messages
- My Department works with Canada’s network of over 550 settlement service provider organizations, the private sponsorship community, Francophone minority communities, provincial/territorial counterparts and other federal departments to ensure newcomers are well supported and that services meet their needs.
- The extensive network of service providers is critical to ensure that newcomers, including refugees, receive the supports they need. This includes services like language training, help finding employment and finding connections in communities.
- There are 43 RAP service provider organizations in 44 communities across Canada and at three ports of entry. This ensures that refugees have access to immediate and essential services upon arrival in Canada, such as temporary accommodation, orientation services, and income support.
- Resettlement supports offered to Afghan refugees start at landing with Port of Entry services, including airport reception and destining to communities where refugees will live. Agencies then link refugees to temporary housing and provide orientation and other immediate supports. These organizations also help to secure permanent housing.
- Settlement services will continue to support Canada’s inclusive economic recovery and will be key to supporting our country’s rising immigration levels.
Housing and Accommodation
- The Government recognizes that housing affordability and availability are challenges for Canadians and newcomers alike. For newcomers, housing is a key component in their successful settlement and integration.
- The importance of affordable housing has been brought into focus with our efforts to resettle Afghan refugees and support individuals fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. This is sometimes made more complex by large family sizes.
- Although housing falls outside of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) mandate, my Department will continue to support broader efforts to address current housing challenges in Canada by working closely with federal, provincial, territorial and other partners.
Destining
- IRCC is settling Afghans in both large and small communities across Canada. While many have settled in larger centres such as Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary, Afghans have also settled in approximately 37 smaller communities across Canada including St. John’s, NL; Nanaimo, BC; Moose Jaw, SK; and Brandon, MB.
Medical Coverage
- Through the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP), my Department provides health insurance to uniquely vulnerable foreign nationals, including refugees and protected persons, who do not qualify for insured health services or other publicly-funded healthcare.
- Refugees receive basic IFHP coverage until they are eligible for provincial or territorial health insurance, which is typically up to three months. They also receive IFHP supplemental and prescription drug coverage while they are receiving income support through the RAP (or its equivalent in Quebec) or while they are under private sponsorship, which is typically 12 months. After this time, refugees may transition to provincially-funded extended healthcare benefits through social assistance programs, as needed.
- The IFHP is an important component of the Government's suite of federal benefits for refugees, facilitating access to Canada’s healthcare system by removing cost barriers to medical care. This in turn supports their settlement outcomes and ability to fully participate in their new communities.
Quebec’s Role in the Settlement and Integration of Newcomers
- Quebec is an active supporter of Canada’s humanitarian traditions through the resettlement of persons in need of protection.
- Quebec has its own refugee sponsorship program, distinct from IRCC’s, which has two streams: a privately-sponsored refugee stream and a government-assisted refugee stream.
- Under the 1991 Canada-Quebec Accord, Quebec has the sole responsibility for the selection of economic immigrants and resettled refugees and the delivery of settlement and resettlement services in the province.
Targeted Supports for Newcomers Facing Additional Barriers
- My Department provides funding to settlement organizations to deliver tailored services to newcomers who are at increased risk of marginalization.
- Tailored settlement services include: in-school programming, peer mentoring, LGBTQ2+ settlement supports focused on newcomer youth, supports for racialized newcomer women, women-only language classes and conversation circles for seniors. Support services such as childcare, translation, interpretation, transportation, short-term counselling and services for newcomers with disabilities also facilitate access to settlement programming.
Supporting Facts and Figures
- In 2021-2022, 428,600 clients accessed at least one settlement service, a 13% increase compared to 2020-2021.
- In 2021-2022, 9,165 newcomers that were part of the Afghan initiative* used at least one settlement service. Over the course of 2022-2023, between April and up until November, 19,590 newcomers from the Afghan cohort accessed at least one settlement service.
(Rounded figures, Afghan initiative consist of: *Special Immigrations Measures, Operation Safe Haven, Operation Afghan Safety)
Background
Program Eligibility
- General eligibility: All permanent residents and protected persons, outside of Quebec, are eligible for federally funded settlement services until they become Canadian citizens.
- Government-assisted refugees: Third-party service provider organizations ensure that government-assisted refugees have access to immediate and essential services upon arrival in Canada. Supports are funded through the RAP, which receives separate funding, and include being greeted at the airport upon arrival in Canada, temporary housing and help to find permanent housing, help to register for mandatory federal and provincial programs, orientation to community services and income support. In general, income support can last up to one year after arrival in Canada, or until they can support themselves, whichever occurs first.
- Temporary residents: The federal government does not generally fund settlement services for temporary residents. However, in the context of certain immigration programs and pilots, such as the Atlantic Immigration Program and the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot, limited supports are available to temporary residents who have been selected and are on a pathway to permanent residence. Ukrainian temporary residents and their dependents in Canada also have access to settlement services until March 31, 2023.
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