Mr. Chair, good morning and thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.
As you know, we all have a role to play in growing Canada's economy and contributing to our society, whether we are new immigrants, newcomers, or people whose families have been here for many generations, like mine, who has been here for 400 years.
Good morning to all of the members of the committee.
We are here today because we all know the importance of integrating immigrants into our society. It is not just a “nice to have” but a must for Canada.
As the president of Colleges and Institutes Canada, Canada's largest national association of Canadian colleges and institutes, and the only one with campuses from coast to coast to coast, I have the privilege of seeing first-hand the amazing work that many of our 135 member institutions do to support immigration integration at 1,000 campuses across the country. From my many conversations with our members, I'm going to share with you three key areas in which I believe Canada should invest.
First, we have to develop a portrait of labour market information, both national and local, of pre-arrival settlement services for immigrants, and permanent funding for labour market bridging programs is needed.