Good afternoon.
My name is Olga Stachova. It's a privilege to be here today to speak on behalf of MOSAIC, a B.C.-based settlement organization.
I would like to start by acknowledging that we are meeting today on the unceded and traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh people, and I'd like to pay my respects to their elders.
For over 45 years, MOSAIC has been supporting immigrants, refugees and temporary foreign workers in B.C. as one of the largest providers of family, settlement, language, employment, interpretation and translation services in Canada. Today, I'd like to share with you three recommendations that, in MOSAIC's opinion, will improve the well-being and the economic outcomes of immigrants.
First, create a federal housing strategy connected to and supporting Canada's immigration strategy.
In 2022, for the second year in a row, Canada welcomed more permanent residents than ever before. At the same time, temporary foreign workers increased almost 20% in 2022 to over 500,000, and international student numbers rebounded to the prepandemic levels of over 620,000.
The first six months of this year indicate that Canada will significantly exceed the target of 465,000 permanent residents this year. That was acknowledged as a key component of the strategy to stabilize and boost our economy. At the same time, the supports necessary to support immigrants effectively are lacking, especially in the area of affordable housing. Without this foundation, the ability to attract and settle skilled immigrants within our communities will be impeded.
MOSAIC recommends an increased commitment to addressing the systemic barriers to housing faced by newcomers because of a lack of Canadian references, credit history, rental history and work experience, but especially because of the overall lack of affordable housing. We suggest that housing affordability could be promoted by continued federal leadership and increased funding that encourages provinces and municipalities to work together to increase the supply of affordable housing—specifically, rent geared to income housing. To address the additional barriers faced by newcomers in terms of references and experience, the federal government could encourage municipalities to require new residential developments to include affordable housing units dedicated to newcomers in the first three to five years of their stay in Canada.
Second is funding for Canadian work experience and training programs for recent immigrants.
Lack of Canadian work experience remains one of the most significant barriers recent immigrants face in finding skills-commensurate employment. Targeted funding would allow employers and service organizations to work together to provide newcomers with occupation-specific training for in-demand jobs, hands-on workplace experience through internships and orientation to Canadian workplaces and mentorships. By modelling an approach after the robust framework that is already in place to support young people in Canada in gaining work experience through co-op placements, internships and employer incentives, Canada can optimize the contribution of recent immigrants to the labour market and provide employers with the skilled and experienced workforce they need.
Given the pace at which technological advancements are changing the nature of jobs and the skill sets required for jobs, we need to recognize the role employers will increasingly play in on-the-job training. For over 15 years, MOSAIC has been delivering successful pilots, engaging employers in the design and delivery of training programs. These programs, including job placements, consistently led to 85% of the trainees landing full-time positions in their field, but the short-term nature of these pilots doesn't allow for meaningful engagement of employers and for ongoing on-the-job training opportunities for newcomers. We recommend creating a permanent funding envelope for this type of industry-led training and job placement program responding to market needs.
The third is core funding for not-for-profit organizations.
Canada has a substantial not-for-profit sector delivering many of the government's services and supports, often supporting those who are most in need. Charities and not-for-profits contribute $192 billion in economic activity to Canada and account for 8.3% of the country's GDP, employing 2.4 million people.
Canadians clearly need and want strong not-for-profits, as do all levels of government, but despite the essential societal role played by not-for-profits, the way government funds the sector is not sustainable. Organizations in the charitable and not-for-profit sector have the same needs as organizations in the private and public sectors. They need to invest in staffing, financial management, data security and privacy, technology, evaluation, staffing, office space and supplies. Many of these basic needs are ineligible to be covered by government funding or are often expected to be covered by pulling in small overhead amounts from short-term contracts.
When organizations need to constantly pursue project-based funding to stay afloat, it limits their ability to be responsive to the needs of communities. Moreover, the requirements of funding agreements around systems and security have been increasing exponentially, with governments now requiring not-for-profits to deploy state-of-the-art systems that are simply cost-prohibitive. The unmanageable increase in all core costs is also cost-prohibitive. The constant refrain of including the costs in the existing 10% to 15% overhead is just not feasible.
While these costs are not necessarily direct program costs, they are essential to providing quality programs and services to communities and upholding good governance standards and financial management, as well as stable employment for its diverse workforce, predominantly made up of women and immigrants.
Therefore, MOSAIC supports the recommendations presented by Imagine Canada and urges the government to reclassify 30% of all current project-based funding that is destined for charities and not-for-profits to be eligible as core funding.
Thank you.