CIMM – Settlement and Integration – March 24, 2022

Key Messages

• Canada’s settlement services help newcomers integrate into the Canadian labour market and society, and build a successful life in Canada.
• In 2021-2022, the Government is investing approximately $923M to support the settlement and integration of newcomers to Canada (outside of Quebec, which is covered by a separate agreement).
• This investment reflects the Government’s recognition that strong settlement services provide newcomers a solid foothold to contribute to Canadian society in the years to come.
• My Department is committed to examining its programs and policies in support of the Government’s broader anti-racism efforts, including within the Settlement Program.

Supplementary Messages

• My Department continues to work closely with Canada’s well-established network of more than 550 third-party settlement service providers, the private sponsorship community, Francophone minority communities, as well as our provincial/territorial counterparts and other federal departments, to ensure that newcomers are well supported and that services continue to meet their needs.
• The extensive network of service providers is critical to ensure that newcomers receive the supports they need. This includes services like language training, help finding employment, and finding connections in communities.
• The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on newcomers, including racialized newcomers. This has worsened or created new economic and social integration hurdles.
• Settlement services will play a key role to support an inclusive pandemic recovery.

Targeted supports for newcomers facing additional barriers

• My Department provides funding to settlement provider organizations to deliver tailored services to newcomers who are at increased risk of marginalization, including racialized women, youth, seniors, people living with a disability and members of the LGBTQ2+ community.
• These tailored services include in-school programming, peer mentoring, LGBTQ2+ settlement supports focused on newcomer youth, women’s-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.

Anti-racism activities

• My Department has issued a value statement on anti-racism highlighting the importance of examining its own practices in relation to racialized employees and to programs affecting newcomers.
• For Canada’s Settlement Program, this means showing accountability under four pillars:
  1. decreasing clients’ experience of racism within settlement programming;
  2. improving IRCC policy directions related to anti-racism;
  3. enhancing the anti-racism capacities of the settlement sector;
  4. increasing connections between newcomers, all Canadians, and Indigenous populations.
• My Department will do this by:
  • exploring what we already know, including assessing new race-disaggregated survey data, to compare the settlement outcomes of newcomers who access settlement services with those who do not. This will help us to identify potential areas for policy or programming improvements;
  • learning through engagement with service providers and newcomers themselves, to gain knowledge on racialized clients’ experiences with settlement programming and where service providers may need additional capacity to deliver culturally appropriate services; and,
  • acting upon what we learn to improve settlement programming for racialized clients through future calls for funding proposals from service providers.
• It is critically important to my Department to measure the outcomes of anti-racism initiatives and assess the effectiveness of any changes that are made to IRCC-funded settlement programming.
• In 2020, the funding call-out process under the Settlement Program’s Service Delivery Improvement fund included a priority on anti-racism. Through these new projects, my Department will support the settlement sector in integrating anti-racism practices in their workplaces and programming.

Youth Employment and Skills Strategy

• Through the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS), the Government is committed to helping youth, particularly those facing barriers to employment, to obtain the information, skills, and work experience needed to successfully transition into the labour market and to help drive growth and innovation.
• My Department will support YESS program objectives by funding targeted settlement supports that help youth navigate the labour market, such as employment preparation training services, facilitated work placements, retention support for newcomer youth and employers, and support services.

Gender-based violence

• Many settlement service provider organizations across Canada deliver programming to help address gender-based violence (GBV), which disproportionately impacts women and which has increased during the pandemic. In response, IRCC has issued guidance to organizations to continue providing GBV resources and supports to newcomers as an essential service.

Supporting Facts and Figures

• IRCC funds more than 550 settlement service provider organizations across Canada (excluding Quebec, where services are determined by the Canada-Quebec Accord) to deliver high-quality services to help newcomers settle and integrate into their new communities. Funding is provided to close to 80 Francophone organizations to support the integration of French-speaking newcomers.
• In 2020-2021, nearly 380,000 clients accessed at least one settlement service.
• In 2020-2021, 31% fewer clients used settlement services, attributed to the 46% decrease in permanent resident admissions compared to 2019-20 in light of pandemic restrictions. Despite the decrease in clients, the demand on service provider organizations has remained high, due to the challenges of delivering services in a pandemic context.
• Current figures for 2021-2022 indicate increased demand for settlement services from newcomers compared to the same period last year.

Background

Settlement 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:

• Government-assisted refugees are eligible for immediate and essential supports through the Resettlement Assistance Program, including: 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, financial 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 invest in 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, certain limited supports are available to temporary residents who have been selected and are on a pathway to permanent residence.