Thank you and good morning, Chair, and members of the committee.
The Canadian Immigrant Settlement Sector is a pan-Canadian association, which represents the immigrant settlement sector in Canada, so my remarks today come from colleagues across the country.
The immigration and settlement program has a direct impact on the well-being of the Canadian economy. As we know, Canada is facing a significant labour market shortage, an aging population, and declining birth rate. There is also a critical need to attract and retain immigrants to smaller centres across Canada. In some parts of the country, such as in Atlantic Canada, some provinces have instituted population growth strategies largely based on higher immigration levels.
The national settlement budget allocation directly relates to our ability as a country to successfully integrate newcomers on both an economic and social basis. The Government of Canada recently indicated a desire to introduce multi-year immigration plans with higher immigration levels of economic, family, and humanitarian classes. With the likelihood of higher immigration levels over the next few years, we're concerned that the current national settlement budget does not even meet present needs. While our membership supports the recent Syrian refugee resettlement initiative, it has brought to the forefront several settlement-related program challenges across the country.
First, the ability to effectively speak one of Canada's official languages is key to social cohesion and integration, including labour market attachment. The federally funded language program has wait-lists across the country. The province of British Columbia, as an example, has a current wait-list of over 5,000 permanent residents; Alberta, a list of 4,400. These wait-lists do not take into consideration child-care spaces. Child care makes it possible for immigrant and refugee women to attend language classes. Having newly arrived immigrants and refugees waiting for months, sometimes over a year, for language classes is unacceptable. It's a waste of human capital and causes unnecessary delays in their integration process.
Second, one of the immediate desires that most newly arrived immigrants and refugees have is their interest in working and contributing to Canada. While the lack of adequate language programs hinders their ability to attach to the labour market or reach their full capacity, there is also a greater need for specifically designed training and employment programs for both high- and low-skilled newcomers. Previous models such as project-based training—which offered specific occupational language support, skills training, paid work experience, placements, and wage subsidies—would have contributed more to the economic integration of newcomers than many of the existing approaches under the Canadian job strategy.
Lastly, since the significant overhaul of Canada's immigration act in June 2002, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, Canada has selected government-assisted refugees through the use of vulnerability criteria, including the urgent need for protection. We support the selection processes of past and current governments. However, we have an obligation to adequately support resettled refugees under humanitarian immigration objectives. Since 2002 the characteristics of government-assisted refugees have changed significantly. We're now seeing refugees who have spent sometimes decades in protracted refugee situations: low literacy, large-size families, survivors of torture, and various other special-needs cases.
There are a few areas I'd like to draw your attention to for additional budget considerations. First, there is the transportation loan program. Canada remains the only country in the world that provides an interest-bearing loan to refugees. We combine their overseas medical examination and their one-way ticket from wherever they're coming from to Canada, and we bundle that into an interest-bearing loan. We should get rid of it.
We also need funding for a national program of settlement-informed refugee trauma support. Due to significant trauma, and pre-existing mental health conditions associated with migration, we urgently need funding for short-term, time-limited, first-language clinical counselling programs as part of the current budget for the national resettlement assistance program.
We looked at successful models, such as in Australia, that have been funded for years by the federal government as an integral part of immigrant settlement, not under the provincial health jurisdiction.
If we cannot adequately support the mental health of refugees, these issues will continue to impact their ability to learn one of Canada's official languages, as well as integrate into the labour market.
Overseas, pre-departure orientation programs for resettled refugees, specifically for youth.... The unique migration experience faced by young people is distinct from that of their parents and guardians. We need to ensure that all resettled refugees are provided with some targeted, specialized pre-departure orientation before coming to Canada.
Our members' direct work with immigrants and refugees constitutes nation building. Our ability as a country to successfully integrate newcomers, both economically and socially, is directly related, in part, to ensuring that newcomers have the programs, services, and supports they need in place to actively participate in and contribute to Canadian society.
Thank you.