IRCC Minister Transition Binder 2025-05

Canada's Approach to Settlement and Integration of Immigrants and Refugees

Context

Settlement services are essential to helping immigrants and refugees succeed in Canada, playing a critical role in their integration journey. Many new immigrants and refugees encounter barriers such as lack of official language knowledge, limited Canadian work experience, challenges with foreign credential recognition, cultural differences, and social isolation.

To address these challenges, federally-funded services are available both pre-arrival and in Canada (outside of Quebec). These grants and contributions programs assist new immigrants and refugees in overcoming settlement-specific obstacles, fostering a sense of belonging in Canadian communities, and facilitating their integration into the labour market and society. Settlement services are available to permanent residents (including resettled refugees and protected persons), as well as to certain temporary resident participants of targeted programs and pilots, while the Resettlement Assistance Program is available to Government-Assisted Refugees and other eligible clients.

Canada’s Collaborative Approach to Settlement and Integration

• Achieving successful settlement and integration in Canada involves all levels of government, as well as private and public sectors and civil society.
• The federal government provides settlement and resettlement funding, the Interim Federal Health Program (temporary health coverage to resettled refugees, protected persons and refugee claimants), and the Immigration Loan Program (financial aid mainly for resettled refugees covering landing fees, travel and resettlement costs), while supporting credential recognition loans (via Employment and Social Development Canada) and labour market supports.
• Provinces and territories deliver education, health care, and social services, along with credential recognition for regulated professions.
• Municipalities focus on housing, transit and community spaces (e.g., libraries, community centers).
• Civil society, including settlement provider organizations that deliver the settlement services, Francophone minority communities, volunteers, and employers, plays a vital role in fostering inclusive communities.

Federally-Funded Supports

The Settlement Program

• For the 2024–2025 fiscal year, the Government of Canada is investing $1.17 billion to meet the settlement needs of immigrants and other eligible clients (outside Quebec; inside Quebec, services are determined by the Canada-Quebec Accord).
• Federally-funded supports are vital to the integration journey, providing eligible immigrants and refugees with tailored resources designed to match their needs with existing strengths. These resources are delivered by more than 550 third-party service provider organizations across Canada and include:
  • pre-arrival services
  • needs & assets assessments and referrals services.
  • information and orientation sessions
  • language services
  • employment support
  • services that eliminate barriers to accessing the Settlement Program such as childcare, interpretation and translation, short-term counselling, provisions for persons with disabilities, digital supports and transportation
• A key part of the Settlement Program are services that foster connections to communities. These include: Community Connections services, which help immigrants fully participate in Canadian life by fostering welcoming, inclusive spaces and engaging local communities.
  • Community Connections services, which help immigrants fully participate in Canadian life by fostering welcoming, inclusive spaces and engaging local communities.
  • The Settlement Workers in Schools program, which supports immigrant youth as they integrate into the school system through group activities and events. They also assist families in navigating the school system and collaborate with staff to address the unique needs of immigrants.
  • The Welcoming Francophone Communities initiative, launched in 2020, supports French-speaking immigrants in Francophone and Acadian communities. This community-led program involves 24 selected communities working to create inclusive spaces where French-speaking immigrants feel valued and develop a strong sense of belonging, fostering lasting ties between immigrants and their communities.
  • Local Immigration Partnerships (LIPs), including seven Zonal Immigration Partnerships, and 13 Réseaux en immigration francophones (RIFs), which coordinate community-level services through cross-sector collaboration. LIPs address general immigrant needs, while RIFs focus on the unique challenges faced by French-speaking immigrants. Together, these partnerships provide indirect settlement services that build welcoming communities and promote integration as a two-way process.

Tailored Supports for Specific Immigrant Populations

• Tailored supports are offered in recognition that some immigrants face greater and/or more complex barriers on their integration journey. These groups include women (with priority given to racialized immigrant women), youth, seniors, 2SLGBTQI+ individuals, and people with disabilities.
• As an unfunded partner of the Youth Employment Skills Strategy, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has committed to providing youth-targeted Employment-related Services through Settlement Program base funding to 4,000 clients in fiscal year 2024–2025 and fiscal year 2025–2026.
• The Francophone Integration Pathway (FIP) is a complete suite of settlement services in French, specifically designed to meet the needs of French-speaking immigrants and delivered in a coordinated and integrated manner by Francophone community organizations. It aims at facilitating integration, as well as the creation of lasting ties between immigrants and Francophone communities outside Quebec. The FIP is a cornerstone of the Policy on Francophone Immigration.

The Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP)

• In addition to the range of settlement services offered to all new permanent residents, Government-Assisted Refugees (GARs) and certain other eligible clients receive supplementary services and supports under the RAP.
• In-Canada RAP services are delivered to GARs through contribution agreements with 46 service provider organizations in 45 resettlement communities across Canada, outside of Quebec. This includes Francophone RAP service providers in four communities that welcome resettled refugees who choose to receive services in French.
• For the 2024–2025 fiscal year, the Government of Canada invested over $475 million through the RAP to meet the resettlement needs of GARs and other eligible clients outside Quebec.
• Key components of the RAP include:
  • Overseas services (pre-departure assistance) funding supports refugee identification, assessment and referrals of GARs. Funding also supports direct assistance to clients during the application process overseas such as translation; interpretation; logistical support and transportation to attend biometrics appointments, immigration health exams, and to reach the point of departure. Also, this funding supports orientation training to assist clients with their travel and preparing for life in Canada.
  • Immediate and essential services in Canada (during the first four to six weeks in Canada): airport reception, temporary accommodations and help finding permanent housing, immediate and essential orientation, links to federal and provincial programs, needs assessments and referrals to settlement/community services.
  • Financial support: a one-time start-up payment to help set up a new home, and income support for up to 12 months (or 24 months for high-needs cases) or until clients are self-supporting, whichever comes first. Monthly income support rates are aligned with provincial social assistance rates.

National Call for Proposals (CFP) 2024

• The Department launched CFP 2024 in November 2023 to solicit funding applications from service provider organizations for the Settlement and Resettlement Assistance Programs to deliver services beginning April 1, 2025. The purpose of this Call for Proposals was to establish a comprehensive set of Settlement and Resettlement Assistance Program services across Canada to help immigrants and refugees adapt to life in Canada and contribute meaningfully to Canada’s economy and society.
• CFP 2024 attracted nearly 1,500 funding applications, requesting over $13 billion for a five-year period. Using pre-established criteria, the Department reviewed these applications to ensure high-quality services for eligible clients. Ultimately, 802 agreements were approved and signed, with over $1 billion allocated annually to Settlement and Resettlement Services.
• The Department has negotiated agreements that began on April 1, 2025, and will remain in effect for three years. These agreements are shorter than the five-year agreements of the previous fiscal cycle due to the reduced immigration levels laid out in the 2025–2027 Multi-Year Levels Plan, which resulted in decreased funding for the Settlement Program. Agreements are monitored by Departmental staff to ensure efficient use of resources and that programming continues to meet immigrants’ and refugees’ needs throughout their lifecycle.
• Funding agreements outline terms, services, performance targets, and outcomes for all Recipient organizations (service provider organizations and other funding recipients). IRCC ensures accountability through regular Recipient reporting on activities, spending, and progress.

Immigrant and Refugee Outcomes and Challenges

• Successful integration in Canada is demonstrated in economic outcomes as well as in social integration and public support:
  • Contributing to economic growth: High education rates and strong labour market presence.
  • Strong social/civic integration: Levels of voting, volunteering and charitable giving are comparable to Canadian-born.
  • Established sense of belonging: High reported levels among immigrants and refugees who feel a sense of belonging in Canada.
  • High naturalization rates: Vast majority of immigrants and refugees become Canadian citizens.
  • Public support: Canada has benefited from a strong public consensus on the benefits of immigration, although public opinion towards immigrants, including refugees, is increasingly trending in a negative direction, reflecting broader concerns about absorptive capacity and the economy.
• There are ongoing and emerging challenges that can be addressed through our evidence-based policies, programs, and a whole-of-society approach. These challenges include:
  • Pressures on housing and social services: availability and accessibility challenges for immigrants, refugees, and established Canadians alike mean we need to ensure that our system can keep up with our ambitious growth.
  • Global crises: Global humanitarian crises, including in Afghanistan, Ukraine and Gaza, have resulted in the need for the programs to pivot.
  • Social cohesion and inclusion: Many immigrants and refugees are racialized individuals, so it is important to continue to build capacity around anti-racism and equity (e.g., gender equity) considerations.
  • Recognition of Foreign Credentials: Many immigrants and refugees are working in jobs that are not commensurate with their skills; long delays in recognizing foreign credentials in key sectors such as health care.
  • Higher-needs immigrants: Higher numbers of immigrants and refugees with increasingly complex settlement needs put pressure on available supports.

Moving Forward…

• The successful settlement and integration of immigrants and refugees is critical to Canada’s economic growth and for maintaining public support for immigration.
• As Canada continues to welcome immigrants and refugees coming from diverse backgrounds each year, settlement and integration supports will remain important to help ensure strong outcomes.
• With the reduction in permanent resident admissions in the 2025–2027 Levels Plan, the funding for settlement and resettlement services will also be lower. The Department remains committed to ensuring that immigrants and refugees are provided with high-quality settlement and resettlement services and is exploring the long-term sustainability of the programs.

Foreign Credential Recognition (FCR)

• The federal government employs a whole-of-government approach to remove barriers to foreign credential recognition for immigrants. IRCC, Employment and Social Development Canada and Health Canada are the primary departments engaged in this work.
• The Forum of Ministers Responsible for Immigration (FMRI) committed in the fall of 2023 to work towards improving FCR for immigrants. In fall 2024, IRCC and four provinces and territories formed a Foreign Credential Recognition Action Group to advance policy discussions related to FCR. [Redacted]
• In March 2025, deputy ministers endorsed the work of the Action Group and asked the Action Group to develop clear recommendations and actions within the pillars to present to FMRI ministers at a future meeting.

Settlement Supports for Crisis Populations

• IRCC has increasingly mobilized in recent years to provide supports and services to non-refugee clients arriving through various pathways as part of the federal government response to crises (e.g., Ukraine, Americas, Gaza, etc.).
• IRCC has provided crisis cohorts with key supports, such as transitional financial assistance under the Resettlement Assistance Program, temporary accommodation, and access to settlement services. In some instances, this required temporarily amending the eligibility of its existing programs on an ad hoc basis.
  • Under normal circumstances, temporary residents are generally ineligible for both the Settlement and Resettlement Assistance Program and permanent residents are generally eligible for Settlement, but not the RAP.
  • Supports for crisis populations have varied across cohorts, raising some stakeholder concern about consistency and equity in IRCC’s crisis response efforts.
• IRCC’s new Crisis Response Framework will help guide IRCC’s analysis of, and decision-making related to, emerging crisis situations, including in relation to the provision of supports and services. The Department’s Settlement Sector is supporting the departmental Crisis Response Framework through the provision of certain in-Canada supports and services to crisis cohorts where there is an identified need.

Key Service Delivery Statistics

Settlement & Integration (Outside of Québec) – Data up to 2025 (Jan to Feb)

% of clients who received IRCC funded services that met their needs (2023): 69%

% of FR-speaking clients who are supported in their settlement journey by IRCC-funded FR organizations (2023-2024): 64%

% of settlement clients who indicate a sense of belonging to Canada (2022 and 2023): 88%

% of settlement clients that are employed (2022 and 2023): 78%

Clients by Gender 2023-2024

Clients by Age 2023-2024

Unique Clients by Service Type in 2023-2024

Share of Expenditures by Service Type in 2023-2024