Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee members.
My name is Mohamed Al-Adeimi, and on a daily basis I coordinate the settlement services at the South London Neighbourhood Resource Centre.
At the same time, with regard to the issues of immigrants and the complexity of serving immigrants, and as my colleague Nooralhooda has said, I also chair the settlement sub-council of the London and Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership. We coordinate that very well thanks to the opportunity which is made available to us through the funding of Citizenship and Immigration. As we get into the issues, we have to work directly with other organizations. I'm also a member of the advisory committee for the RBC Centre for At-Risk Children and Families at the London Health Sciences Centre.
I'm also a member of a pilot project in London on forming family centres serving all residents of London in their neighbourhoods. This project is happening through the city as a pilot.
London is always looked upon as a city where you go if you want to test any object. As the story goes, when McDonald's wanted to bring their restaurant here, they started in London, Ontario. We often see pilot projects started in London. If they are successful there, they could be successful anywhere.
I also serve as a member of the collaborative service teams of these different family centres.
All that is to say it is very important to look at the issues of immigrants from the holistic point of view of the needs of immigrants, which are very complex, as well as the time of the information.
I have a PowerPoint presentation, but I'll try to summarize it because it has not been translated and therefore, I cannot show it.
I will start talking about who we are and then I will talk a little bit about implementing the Citizenship and Immigration programs and the accountability of settlement services. Then I'll conclude by giving a few notes.
The South London Neighbourhood Resource Centre is the biggest centre in the City of London. It has been there for 30 years, and has been serving immigrants as well as residents. Our mission is to operate as a family, child, and youth community enrichment centre. The centre supports and fosters the development of community-based and community-driven projects that nurture and enhance a healthy quality of life for residents of London.
From the very beginning, when the community started settling in London, and throughout the years, they looked at having a place where all their children, families, and everyone could be.
In 2007, we were recognized as one of the settlement agencies by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. What a wonderful place to integrate newcomers into the community, and not by building a silo kind of a centre, separate from settlement agencies. What we provide at the centre is a series of initiatives for engaging residents in their community from age zero until they're seniors.
In terms of the majority, as things have changed, as the demography of the city of London has changed, in our area especially the percentage of newcomers is the highest when compared with other parts of the city and with many medium-sized cities in Ontario as well.
We have a youth council that engages in, plans, and directs their activities into the areas and issues that they are interested in. We integrate newcomer youth within the youth centre. As well, we have the early education centre that supports families who have children below the age of six. Health Canada is a major funder in this project. We coordinate this project through the City of London. As well, we have programs and services for adults and seniors. The majority of the adults and seniors are immigrants as well.
Being a community centre that's driven based on the needs of immigrants, we have a community development approach to engage volunteers. Many individuals on a daily basis support the residents as volunteers. As well, knowing that the need is there for emergency services, we do also have other emergency services. Over 85 programs and services are being put under one roof in order to provide holistic and comprehensive settlement services for newcomers. This is one of the best practices we have shared across the board in Ontario. It's wonderful to have a place for all members of the family, irrespective of whether they have successfully secured a job or not. We see newcomers who have secured a job and who are not settled. They are the ones who are in a very bad situation and won't be integrated easily into the community.
Through our history of 30 years of collaboration and partnership with the community, we do see that it's not enough that a person gets a job. It's important that a person feels that his children are safe, that his family gets the support they need, that they have a place where they can spend their recreational time, a place where they can feel at home, a place that makes them think, “This is my community. I belong here. I am part of it.”
This is the way we deliver our best practices in services at the South London Neighbourhood Resource Centre.