Evidence of meeting #141 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was newcomers.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

David Manicom  Assistant Deputy Minister, Settlement and Integration, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Ümit Kiziltan  Director General, Research and Evaluation, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Matthew Cecchetto  Liaison Officer, Canadian Orientation Abroad, International Organization for Migration
Queenie Choo  Chief Executive Officer, S.U.C.C.E.S.S.
Jean-Guy Bigeau  President, Executive Director, Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité Canada
Salma Zahid  Scarborough Centre, Lib.
Roukya Abdi-Aden  Administrator, National Cooperation, Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité Canada
Ramez Ayoub  Thérèse-De Blainville, Lib.

4:05 p.m.

Assistant Deputy Minister, Settlement and Integration, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

David Manicom

Statistically the newcomer group that does least well with employment is visible minority newcomer women. They often face multiple barriers to employment, including gender, race-based discrimination, precarious or low income, and lack of social networks, affordable child care and so forth. The government, through budget 2018, committed $32 million over three years to support employment-related programming for this group. We launched that pilot this past December. We're doing that in several different ways. We're increasing current programming. We've just launched an expression-of-interest process to establish new partnerships with non-traditional partners, and it has had a very high uptake. We also have a controlled study to evaluate the effectiveness of different types of employment-related services, at the conclusion of which we hope we will have insights into how best to spend money in the future for the best results.

4:05 p.m.

Liberal

Marwan Tabbara Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON

Okay.

How much time do I have, Mr. Chair?

4:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant

Just over a minute.

4:05 p.m.

Liberal

Marwan Tabbara Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON

I'm okay.

4:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant

All right.

We're now going to turn to Ms. Rempel.

Just before we do, because you slip in and out all the time, Luwam, I just want to acknowledge to the committee that this will be your last committee meeting with us. I'm sure you're going to miss us, and on behalf of the whole committee, I want to thank you for your work in representing the whip's office for the Conservative Party. Good luck. You disappear sometimes, so I wanted to make sure I got a chance to say that. On behalf of the whole committee, thank you for your work.

4:05 p.m.

Some hon. members

Hear, hear!

4:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant

Is that your successor?

4:05 p.m.

Luwam Ghebre Committees Coordinator, Office of the Chief Opposition Whip, House of Commons

Yes, it is. This is Emily.

4:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant

Emily? Good. Welcome.

4:05 p.m.

Emily Thibert

Thank you.

4:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant

Ms. Rempel.

4:10 p.m.

Conservative

Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB

Mr. Manicom, what percentage of the government-assisted refugee cohort of the Syrian refugees, as per the statistic you cited, are employed?

4:10 p.m.

Assistant Deputy Minister, Settlement and Integration, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

4:10 p.m.

Conservative

Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB

With regard to the statistic of 57% that you mentioned, can you break that down between government-assisted refugees and privately sponsored refugees? How many government-sponsored refugees are employed and how many privately sponsored refugees are employed?

4:10 p.m.

Assistant Deputy Minister, Settlement and Integration, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

David Manicom

According to the survey results, 43% of GARs were employed and 60% of PSRs.

4:10 p.m.

Conservative

Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB

Was that full-time employment or part-time employment?

4:10 p.m.

Assistant Deputy Minister, Settlement and Integration, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

David Manicom

That was all employment.

4:10 p.m.

Conservative

Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB

So you don't have it broken down by full time or part time.

4:10 p.m.

Assistant Deputy Minister, Settlement and Integration, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

4:10 p.m.

Conservative

Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB

Okay. Do you have any information on what percentage of the entire cohort might still be drawing social assistance payments from provincial governments?

4:10 p.m.

Assistant Deputy Minister, Settlement and Integration, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

David Manicom

No, I don't have that.

4:10 p.m.

Conservative

Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB

So you're not tracking this based on full-time or part-time employment.

4:10 p.m.

Assistant Deputy Minister, Settlement and Integration, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

David Manicom

We'll have detailed information later this spring from database linkages, which is how we get information on—

4:10 p.m.

Conservative

Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB

Are you tracking it by full time and part time? Can we expect to get that information in the report?

4:10 p.m.

Assistant Deputy Minister, Settlement and Integration, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

David Manicom

Yes, the database will enable us to give employment outcomes by income.