Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Feb. 19th, 2015

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

Is that in addition to the $600 million for settlement funding? It's not included in the $600 million. Is that correct?

[Catrina Tapley]

That's correct.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you very much.

I've heard some good-news stories of how CIC has assisted refugees in connecting with employers. Could you perhaps give us an example of that?

[Ryhan Mansour]

Madam Chair, we do have several examples.

As was mentioned, there are some services set aside under the resettlement assistance program that are dedicated to refugees. But the entire bigger envelope of settlement services, the $600 million, also serves refugees once they're done, and their transition from the resettlement to the settlement services, and those include supports for employment. Actually, refugees are highly represented in our clients under the settlement program. Almost one in five is a refugee.

We have very good examples of programs that are geared to the employment of refugees. I can think of several examples. For instance, there's LEEP, the life and employment enhancement program in Saskatchewan, where refugees who were deemed job ready after getting their necessary language skills level up to a certain level, getting trained for their resumé preparation, and getting connected with employers, were able to get placements into jobs where they could use their skills.

We also have some recent activity that maybe Madam Pateman could speak to where we've been approached by employers who have also been looking to fill some labour shortages they have in low-skilled areas with refugees and have been meeting some very good success recently.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you very much.

Madam Chair, I'm going to give the remainder of my time to my colleague Mr. Hawn.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Thank you very much.

I have a couple of points and then a couple of questions.

This is grosso modo, but every department budgets for expected expenditures and so on. People make a big deal out of money that is lapsed—quote, unquote—at the end of the year, but a lot of government programs like yours, like Veterans Affairs programs, and so on, are demand driven. If the money is not demanded, the money is not spent. The numbers that were tossed out were $18 million over $800 million. That's about 2.3%. In my opinion, I think any department that budgets within about 2% or 3% is doing a pretty fine job, so good on you.

Mr. Gionet, the loan terms and so on seem to me to be pretty favourable, so I don't think that in itself is a big issue. Are there provisions for outright forgiveness under certain circumstances?

[Jean-Marc Gionet]

Madam Chair, I'm not aware, and I might need to get back to you on that one.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

It looks like you want to say something, Ms. Tapley.

[Catrina Tapley]

We'll get back with specific details—

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Okay.

[Catrina Tapley]

—but there are circumstances such that we would allow for outright forgiveness. We'll get back to the committee with under what circumstances that could be allowed.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Okay.

I have another short question. One of the popular Internet myths that keeps circulating regularly is about how poorly we treat our seniors compared to how wonderfully we treat our refugees. It conflates the numbers that are one-time grants and monthly income support. Could you give us the numbers for the one-time grant for things like setting up a household and furniture? I think it's $1,890. Also, I believe the monthly financial support for the first year is $580. Would you have those numbers?

[Catrina Tapley]

That's correct, Madam Chair. That's the simple answer.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

I'm asking that just so it's on the record and so the next time I get this thing, which comes around about every year, I can give them the blues and say, “No, here it is.”

Thank you. That's all I wanted.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe]

Madam Mathyssen, you may have a few more minutes, if you want to take them.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Again, thank you for the information you've brought to the committee.

There is something I've been thinking about over the last number of years. It has to do with my experience as a teacher. In the early nineties and the mid-nineties, a number of students came here from Bosnia and other places where they had been subjected to things that children should never see. One of the things that I noted in the classroom was the very clear evidence of traumatization. These kids couldn't function and they couldn't tell us why.

In terms of that, since we're seeing so many desperate families and so many affected children coming to Canada now, whether it's from Syria or Africa, are there services available for crisis intervention for these traumatized human beings so they can be successful in terms of their integration and resettlement?

[Catrina Tapley]

Madam Chair, I should say that we work in close partnership with provinces and territories on settlement and integration programming. Although the federal government provides about $600 million outside of Quebec, provinces and territories also provide direct supports.

The provincial and territorial indirect supports, through education and through health, are significant. One of the programs I will talk about that we're quite proud of is SWIS, the settlement workers in schools program. We have settlement workers in the schools to catch the parents, so to speak. They provide integration and settlement supports not only to students in the school, but also to their parents as a friendlier interface that comes up with the school system and with immigrant parents in some cases. It's to help connect the needs of students and the needs of those parents to settlement provider organizations, but also to provincial and territorial supports through the health care system and through other social services.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

How long has that program been in place?

[Catrina Tapley]

SWIS? It depends on what part of the country it is, but that program has been in place in one form or another since the 1990s, since 1999.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

That would explain what I was seeing and the problem in the mid-nineties.

I believe Mr. Sandhu has a question.

[Jasbir Sandhu, NDP, Surrey North, BC]

You mentioned there are a number of places where the immigrants or refugees are able to access childminding spaces. Is that correct?

[Catrina Tapley]

That's correct. We provide childminding services with a number of our different settlement services. For language training, or for employment-related services, not in all cases, but in many cases we provide childminding services.

[Jasbir Sandhu, NDP, Surrey North, BC]

Does it help the new immigrants to have this service available?

[Catrina Tapley]

When we looked at our programs, we identified what the barriers were. Madam Chair, the committee has identified some of these as well. One barrier that had a particular effect on immigrant women was that they couldn't come to language training or other settlement services because they were busy providing child care. The provision of childminding services in conjunction with the other settlement services lets a greater proportion of immigrant women come in and avail themselves of those services.