Thank you. My presentation will be on the best practices and standards, the integrated service delivery model, and the settlement services sector history and development.
Before I start, I would like to make a summary statement. Best practices in settlement services aim to advance the achievement of the successful settlement and adaptation of new immigrants and refugees to Canada through an integrated service delivery model provided by well-resourced settlement organizations and trained workers.
What is meant by best practices and standards? Best practices are offered in order to enhance efforts at improvement, share information and experience, and encourage discussion and conversation. For us, standards that can be developed from best practices are generally agreed upon minimum norms for programs and services. Best practices constitute an ideal to which an organization or service can strive.
The establishment of best practices and standards for and in settlement services is crucial in providing immigrants and refugees with a supportive environment that assists with their settlement and integration into society. It builds upon the importance of working together to ensure a welcoming and supportive community and service network to accomplish this goal. It also identifies a need or gap in consistent settlement training and practice, and seeks to further develop a number of strategies aimed at building capacity in settlement organizations.
In the context of the shared responsibilities of governments, settlement organizations, and host societies regarding the successful integration of immigrants and refugees, best practices and standards are geared toward ensuring that immigrants and refugees are served according to their needs and rights by qualified workers who have been trained; communities can count on settled and integrated newcomers who are able to contribute to and participate in society to their full potential; in the context of a demanding job, the needs of workers are met and adequate compensation for their work is provided; settlement organizations can improve governance and infrastructure; settlement organizations are adequately resourced to fulfill their mandates and missions; the uniqueness, legitimacy, and value of settlement services in Canada are reaffirmed, widely recognized, and supported; and governments and those who fund are getting better return for their social investments.
Best practices and standards of settlement services also clarify an accountability framework for measuring settlement outcomes, and they include definitions of key results-based management terminology.
Considering the current state of settlement services, a dialogue on best practices and standards will serve to create a commitment to common values and practices, a common vocabulary, and overall greater coherence in the sector. It appears most appropriate for best practices and standards to be adopted on a voluntary basis or used as a tool to gradually enhance the operations of settlement organizations, as well as create a common language and greater consistency in the provision of settlement services.
Concrete recommendations were made within the 2003 second national conference working group IV discussion paper on national settlement service and standards framework, which has been undertaken by federal and provincial governments along with the settlement service sector and relevant organizations. They include establishing immediate, medium-term and long-term outcome indicators of the settlement process for measurement and evaluation; discussing and implementing the training, human resource, and financial implications of establishing minimum core competencies for organizations and settlement workers; identifying common priorities, links, and directions for actions that will lead to increased accountability, greater recognition, and better understanding of settlement services across Canada; and highlighting inter-organizational collaboration to address the enhancement of the settlement sector's capacity to provide improved settlement services across Canada.
When we talk about the integrated service delivery model, what is meant is that the integrated service delivery model aims to remove the artificial barriers between traditional settlement programs. It aims to provide an opportunity for an innovative, responsive, and holistic approach to helping immigrants and refugees achieve successful settlement and adaptation.
Under an integrated service delivery model, organizations support an immigrant or refugee client as a whole person rather than as simply a person looking for work, a student learning English, or a mother trying to find out how to get her children into school.
Further, every client is assigned a worker who is well versed in the various challenges immigrants and refugees face. That worker assesses the client's needs and offers him or her an array of options--including employment, language, family, and settlement programs and services options--to ease his or her settlement and adaptation into Canadian society. The worker remains with the immigrant or refugee until such time as his or her goals are achieved.
Services are offered across gender and age groups: males and females, singles and families. They also address the needs of children, youth, seniors, and other vulnerable populations. From MOSAIC's experience, it is about organizing our work systematically so that it meets the primary needs of immigrants and refugees.
At a macro level, it calls on the stakeholders, particularly settlement organizations, government funders, and employers, to work together by breaking existing silos.
I am going to talk to you about the history of the settlement service sector and its development.
The settlement service sector is part of the social service sector that has the specific mandate and expertise to serve immigrants and refugees. Here are some highlights of the history and development of the settlement services sector in Canada.
After the First World War, in 1922, the Jewish Immigrant Aid Society was formed. It was the first settlement organization in Canada. After the Second World War, in the 1940s, CSAI, with their Thursday suppers, and the Manitoba Interfaith Immigrant Council were formed. Then in 1952, there was Italian Immigrant Aid Toronto. In 1961 we had COSTI; in the 1970s, MOSAIC; and in 1978, the Canadian Council for Refugees.
Then, of course, the federal government launched programs. In 1974 there was ISAP, the immigrant settlement and adaptation program; in 1990, the LINC program, language instruction for newcomers; and in 1991, the host program.