Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Feb. 4th, 2019

[Brian Dyck, National Migration and Resettlement Program Coordinator, Mennonite Central Committee Canada]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, for inviting me to speak to this committee on the issue of immigrant settlement services in Canada.

Since 1979, Mennonite Central Committee has facilitated sponsorship and settlement of more than 10,000 refugees from around the world. To do this, MCC and our constituent groups interact with settlement-providing organizations, or SPOs, in the five provinces from B.C. to Ontario on a regular basis. I would say that generally we, as MCC, have a good working relationship with SPOs, and we appreciate the Government of Canada's funding for immigration settlement services.

As I have talked with refugee resettlement advocates from around the world, I realize how fortunate we are to have such a well-developed immigration settlement structure. However, there are some challenges and, of course, there's always room for improvement in anything we do.

In checking with my colleagues and my MCC provincial offices, the consensus seems to be that we, as sponsors, and they, as professional settlement agencies, do not always understand each other. As a result, we don't always know what collaboration looks like.

As one who works in a faith-based organization, I was interested to see a report from Kitchener's Centre for Community Based Research last January, which talked about the relationship between faith-based organizations and settlement agencies. The report, entitled “Faith & Settlement Partnerships: Setting Immigrants and Canada Up for Success”, makes the point that many newcomers to Canada are more religious than Canadian-born residents; therefore, they often turn to a place of worship as their first connecting point and do not always connect with government-funded settlement services. The report contends that more and better relationships between faith groups and settlement agencies can be good for newcomers to Canada and the integration process.

The report found that these partnerships are already happening. The study found that 81% of settlement agencies surveyed said that they work with faith groups, and 78% of faith groups report working with settlement agencies. Nevertheless, there are barriers to these partnerships.

As I looked at the barriers identified in the report, they rang true to what I have heard from sponsoring groups over the years. I would suggest that it is not just faith groups that experience these barriers to good collaboration, and I want to highlight just a few.

To begin with, the report found what I would call a lack of understanding of each other between faith groups and settlement agencies. For example, this can be manifested in a skepticism by settlement agencies about the motives of faith groups: Whether they are just out to get more converts is perhaps a suspicion that the settlement sector may have of faith-based groups.

This lack of understanding, and even trust, can go both ways. While the report doesn't pick up on this, I have heard people in sponsoring groups question the commitment of settlement workers, because they are professional staff and perhaps not as personally invested in their clients as a volunteer might be.

I don't think that either of those perceptions is generally true. When we see those, good communication is needed so that a level of trust can be created.

A second area of possible discord has to do with the understanding about what each side brings to a partnership. Sometimes sponsors lack training. I've certainly seen that, and I've heard the frustration of settlement workers who see what one of my MCC colleagues has called “helicopter sponsors”. They are sponsors who are doing everything for the newcomer and often making them more dependent rather than independent.

On the other side, sponsors can feel like their contributions are not appreciated. Sponsors have a lot to offer in volunteer time and social capital that can provide broad links to the community. That may not always be recognized or appreciated in settlement agencies.

These barriers are not insurmountable, but it takes work to develop a good working relationship. So how do we deal with these barriers?

First, good partnerships require good communication. However, there are issues of privacy which can stand in the way of good communication. Settlement workers have an obligation to keep information about their clients private. This is important and should not be eroded. Resettled refugees are often very vulnerable in their new homes. Indeed, there may be times when the settlement worker learns something about the sponsor which is problematic.

However, sponsors have an obligation to support the people they are sponsoring. Sponsors and settlement workers can each come with valuable insights into the process of integration, but they need to find a way to communicate about the challenges of developing a strategy together.

It would be important for IRCC to sit down with the settlement sector and representatives of sponsors to work out a protocol, making sure that important information can be shared between settlement workers and sponsors and not compromise newcomers' privacy.

Second is that good collaboration takes planning. The advice sponsors get from IRCC is to contact a settlement service as they develop their settlement plan and shortly before the arrival of the refugee. I've done this, particularly with joint assistant sponsorships where there's a clear partnership defined between the sponsors, the resettlement assistance program sponsors, the settlement-providing organization and the sponsor, and that has been a great experience. This pre-arrival meeting is an opportunity to define roles and to define tasks. However, as far as I know, meetings with sponsors do not get recorded in iCARE and there is no funding for these important meetings. I've wondered if it would be helpful if pre-arrival meetings with sponsors could be tracked in iCARE and also funding provided for the SPOs for these meetings.

Building good working relationships, partnerships, can take a lot of energy and time. Sometimes I think both sponsors and settlement workers wonder if it's worth the effort. I have wondered, though, if IRCC could act as a matchmaker between sponsors and SPOs. This may at times feel like an arranged marriage, but arranged marriages can work. It's worth the effort. It can improve this relationship, and I believe newcomers will integrate better into our communities and, in turn, our communities will benefit from the gifts and talents they bring to Canada.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Very good, that was right on time.

Ms. Stachova.

[Olga Stachova, Chief Executive Officer, MOSAIC]

Honourable Chair and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today on behalf of MOSAIC, a B.C.-based immigrant-serving organization.

I would like to begin by acknowledging that we are meeting today on the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.

MOSAIC has been providing services to newcomers in B.C. for 42 years. Our 350-member staff, 700 volunteers and 300 contractors deliver services in person from 26 locations as well as online. We provide services to newcomers of all ages and all genders. These include settlement services, English-language and cultural competency training, employment services, interpretation and translation, community outreach, as well as specialized gender and victim support counselling services. We are also a sponsorship agreement holder and we support Canada's refugee resettlement efforts.

MOSAIC's services are part of Canada's settlement and integration system, which serves as a model for many countries around the world. We appreciate the efforts that the federal government makes to strengthen the system through setting multi-year immigration levels with corresponding funding, reallocating resources in response to emerging needs, and developing and streamlining the pre-arrival services. We are also grateful to our partnership with the Province of British Columbia in providing settlement support for newcomers with temporary status, thus ensuring universal access to services, which is a top priority for the settlement sector. However, as my colleague mentioned, there is always room for improvement. I would like to share with you recommendations that, in MOSAIC's opinion, would improve the economic outcomes of immigrants.

To meet our growing labour shortages, Canada needs immigrants. Employers across the country sound the alarm that they cannot find a workforce that is qualified, and yet immigrants in general are more likely to be in jobs that underutilize their education, skills and experience. A report done by the Conference Board of Canada estimated that immigrants would earn up to $12.7 billion more annually if their education and experience were recognized.

MOSAIC has been delivering employment programs, in partnership with the Government of B.C. and the Government of Canada, for over 25 years. Working with thousands of employers and employees, we have learned that the most successful programs are the ones designed and delivered jointly with employers.

A lack of Canadian work experience remains one of the most significant barriers to finding commensurate employment. Many employers think it's too risky to hire someone new to Canada. There is already a robust framework in place in Canada supporting young people in gaining work experience and successfully transitioning into the labour market through co-op placements, internships and employer incentives. We would strongly recommend adopting these models to provide relevant Canadian work experience for newcomers.

Given the pace at which technological advancements are changing the nature of jobs and the skill sets required for emerging jobs, we need to recognize the role that employers will increasingly play in on-the-job training. In partnership with the B.C. Ministry of Jobs, Trade and Technology, MOSAIC delivered successful pilots engaging employers in the designing of training programs, augmenting technical training with training on Canadian workplace culture, followed by on-the-job experience where employers were able to test drive talent. Whether it's working with the BC Alliance for Manufacturing or the BC Care Providers Association, 85% of trainees landed full-time positions in their field at the end of the program. The short-term nature of these pilots doesn't allow for meaningful engagement of employers and for ongoing training opportunities for newcomers leading directly to jobs. We recommend creating a permanent funding envelope for this type of industry-led training responding to market needs.

Working with newcomers with complex employment needs requires a different approach. MOSAIC uses intensive case management, working with individuals to identify their skills and abilities and then finding employers who are willing to make accommodations and adapt their job requirements. We would like to underline the need for this personalized wraparound support when considering employment programs for newcomers with multiple barriers to employment.

Successful integration of newcomers requires active engagement by communities and employers. That is why settlement service providers need to not only deliver direct services but also be able to invest in outreach and in building relationships with communities and employers. Integration is a two-way process. The more awareness we are able to build among employers, the more successful newcomers will be in their economic integration.

Family reunification is crucial to the economic success of newcomers. Long delays and barriers in the processing of spouses and children, as well as parents and grandparents, leave families divided and more fragile. This is especially important for the economic integration and prosperity of newcomer women, since parents and grandparents could take on child care tasks and enable newcomer women to participate in training and in the labour force. We would like to encourage the government to continue its efforts to increase opportunities for timely family reunification.

Employment is a critical aspect of settlement. However, having a job doesn't mean that all settlement needs are met. It is important to have services available to address the full range of personal and family issues related to integration to ensure that newcomers can maintain their employment and progress economically.

MOSAIC has a long-standing partnership with the Law Foundation of B.C., enabling us to provide legal advocacy for immigration, poverty and family issues to augment our wide range of settlement services. MOSAIC also engages over 700 volunteers, many of whom serve as mentors by helping newcomers not only maintain employment, but also grow their careers.

One of MOSAIC's key priorities is to develop our clients into leaders, giving them a voice and creating opportunities for applying their expertise in shaping and directing services in their communities, municipalities and provinces through access to seats at advisory committees, boards of directors, taking part in community consultations or participating in political organizations.

Increasing civic engagement and involvement of newcomers requires access to training, networks and opportunities. As the committee considers the scope of settlement services, MOSAIC would like to see civic engagement as an important step in the settlement continuum.

In closing, I would like to encourage the committee to focus on recommendations that recognize immigrants not only for the education, skills and experience they bring to Canada, but also for the determination, initiative, resilience and adaptability they have demonstrated in successfully moving to a new country. There might be many things they need to learn about life in Canada, but what they can contribute if given a fair chance is much greater.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Thank you.

Mr. Daoud, are you speaking on behalf of The Refugee Centre?

[Abdulla Daoud, Executive Director, The Refugee Centre]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Very good. Welcome. It's good to see you again.

[Abdulla Daoud]

Thank you.

Honourable Chair, vice-chairs and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to submit a brief and appear on behalf of The Refugee Centre.

Over the past three years, our not-for-profit organization has been engaged with new and innovative ways to tackle integration in Canada. Before our launch in 2015, we studied the landscapes of services available to these populations and decided to contribute in our own way. Our centre operates on three main principles: academic, social and economic integration.

Through our academic integration programs, we were able to admit over 150 refugees into post-secondary educational institutions in our first year alone. We found that many refugees were missing key prerequisites to achieve a higher level of education in Montreal, and that was IELTS and TOEFL prep. As soon as we offered these classes, we were able to achieve the aforementioned numbers.

Aside from our academic solutions, we also decided to put our skills toward developing and creating technological solutions to better integration and immigration as a whole. Our two major technologies are LUNA AI and our pre-arrival services portal.

In 2017 and 2018, we developed an application called LUNA AI to aid refugee claimants by leveraging AI conversational abilities with newcomers through an interactive chatbot. Currently, claimants can chat with LUNA in any language of choice and in turn, LUNA will control the conversation in order to extract information needed from the claimant and then automatically fill out the necessary forms in French or English. This ensures that the claimants are actually filling out the necessary information and are guided towards the correct resources. LUNA's main goals are to potentially save time for refugee claimants, legal representatives and government workers.

We are currently expanding LUNA to aid more than just refugee claimants but all newcomers in many bureaucratic processes including work permit applications, health card and driver's licence applications, and immigration forms from various streams of immigration in Canada. We're aiming for LUNA to add value in terms of data integrity, automation, innovating client service delivery, collecting data trends, and eliminating fraud, as with LUNA we can better track where users are struggling or not understanding certain questions. Furthermore it provides the correct information to users as many newcomers are taken advantage of and given incorrect information as they are not aware of their legal rights nor their obligations to Canada throughout the immigration process. LUNA would therefore potentially limit the effect of crooked immigration practices throughout the country.

Our second technology that's currently being developed is our pre-arrival services portal. From our research we noticed that immigrants and sponsored refugees have anywhere between 12 and 24 months to prepare for arrival to Canada. Therefore, we've created a social network portal geared to immigrants, refugees and prospective newcomers. This web application aims to help newcomers transition into their new life in Canada before they even arrive. We aim to centralize all the services available for newcomers in one place for easy access and also to create a space where newcomers can interconnect and help one another. A user can create a profile, join communities that they're interested in, and also register for services that will be integrated directly into the web application. These services can be either governmental or non-governmental in nature.

The application will then gather data about the user and their time spent on the application. This will include tracking questions they need the most help with and the services they find the most helpful. The data will then be used to provide immigrants better choices and suggested services thus creating a proof and methodology for integration based on the data we've gathered.

We hope to also locate services that are either being underutilized, over-utilized or no longer needed. Some key advantages or examples of the services will be the ability for them to understand what services will be available to them before they even land in Canada. Newcomers can prepare in advance for their housing situation, what schools are like, what the registration process is, and the average cost associated with their city of choice. They'll have onboarding guidance for what to expect in terms of work, labour and entrepreneurial standards, as well as financial literacy education, enabling them to know which banks better suit their financial situation and how our banking system works. In our experience dealing with newcomers, there are many services and tasks they could have done before entering Canada that would have prepared them better in terms of integration.

Last, we would like to shed light on our tech education programs through our social innovation catalyst called DevBloc. DevBloc acts as a technology and entrepreneurial lab to aid newcomers in tech education and building their own businesses alongside Canadians. In order to prepare the incoming refugee and immigrant population in Canada for the booming tech economy, we started a programming school. This programming school educates refugees and Canadians on the most in-demand coding languages available in industry today. Alongside our partners in industry, we give these workshops throughout the week. Towards the end, the teams and the classes build their own programs to either expand their own start-ups or expand their profile in industry.

Alongside DevBloc, we also host an annual hackathon where we team up with different organizations to tackle social issues. This past year, we teamed up with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada where the IRCC presented us with three challenges. We're happy to say that we solved all three technological challenges in just 24 hours, proving what the impact of collaboration between grassroots organizations such as ours and government can really do.

This brings us to our three recommendations.

One is for government to work more closely with grassroots organizations to improve client delivery services to newcomers. These organizations deal with the concerns more directly.

Two is to take advantage of the technological advances today to better deliver these services and track their effectiveness on the incoming population.

Three is to prepare newcomers for the upcoming economy. While the current trends are promising, it is a safer and stronger bet to tap into the entrepreneurial spirit of these newcomers. This can be done by investing in incubators and technology labs geared toward newcomers such as ours.

Thank you very much. I look forward to any questions, hopefully.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Thank you very much.

I've just used my chair's prerogative to make a decision that we'll give each party three minutes to ask a question or two.

Mr. Tabbara.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the witnesses for being here. Sorry that we went a little bit over time. We had less time for questions, but thank you for all the work that you do in helping newcomers succeed in our country and in our communities.

My first question will be for Brian Dyck.

What is your organization's experience when it comes to foreign credentials and newcomers' skill sets? How do you match that when a newcomer comes in? They may have had 10-plus years' experience in a certain field. What are some of the things, best practices, that you've worked on to match employees?

[Brian Dyck]

Generally, the people we're bringing in do not have a lot of experience. They tend to be low-skilled. Certainly, matching up jobs with the people and their skills is a challenge. I've certainly heard of credentialing problems, but we haven't dealt much with that because we haven't settled a lot of people with credentials, to be honest.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

I would ask Mr. Daoud if he could comment on that as well.

[Abdulla Daoud]

Yes. For example, we've had a lot of people who come with tech education backgrounds, especially in the engineering sector. The problem, and this is a common problem, is industry and institutions only recognize Canadian education or North American education.

The best way of going about it is getting them into what we call one-year post-graduate degree programs or diplomas to fast-track their equivalency. They usually perform very well. It wouldn't reduce the amount of time and it would only take one year. There are our continuing education programs that are being offered in universities around us that we take advantage of as well.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Ms. Stachova, could you comment as well?

[Olga Stachova]

In B.C., we have a number of programs that support newcomers in, again, recognizing credentials, getting additional training and a pathway to jobs, even support on the job. They're called career paths. They're delivered jointly through the B.C. government and the support of the federal government. They are in specific areas, as there are four or five specific areas that we target.

Then there's the employment program of B.C. that has something similar for all citizens, except newcomers might not necessarily be eligible for all the services.

There are some good practices where we can provide a path in certain specifications. What we are trying to propose is a step further, the next challenge of potentially finding the employment even if the credentials were recognized, and having the opportunity to actually practise and impress the employer.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Mr. DeCourcey.

[Matt DeCourcey, Fredericton, Lib.]

Just building on that—sorry, it's rapid fire—do you have any experience in not just working with federal government but provincial governments and professional colleges or professional accrediting societies that would have a role in better recognizing foreign credentials? Even though it's not necessarily the purview of this committee, do you have any advice on that front?

[Olga Stachova]

We would have not necessarily credentials.... For example, in one of the programs we did with the BC Care Providers Association, we actually delivered it with a college that has designed with us and with the employers' program that a cohort would go through and then move into jobs where they actually apply on the job what they learned. That's one of the examples of working with an employer association around the common need and working with colleges.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Mr. Tilson.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I'd like to ask the three witnesses for comments on language training. There's evidence from the IRCC and from newcomers themselves which says that language training is failing for a large number of people. If you agree, what do you think is behind all this and what can the government do to improve the success rate for language training for newcomers?

We'll start with you, Mr. Dyck.

[Brian Dyck]

Language learning is different for many different people. I think developing different strategies for different learning styles is an important thing to think about. Some people learn better while they're at work. Having programs where language can be learned in a work setting is one good practice I've seen and I think should be considered. But, yes, it's certainly a challenge.

The other thing that I think volunteers and sponsors bring is a chance to interact with people who speak English or French in their community as a first language more often. That interaction, I think, can bolster anything that's in a classroom.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

One of the problems is that there are newcomers who come to Canada who don't speak French or English. It's a serious problem. Obviously, it's being said that language training for that particular group alone is not adequate. Even young children who can't speak French or English, what are they going to do when they go to school?

[Brian Dyck]

This is a bit out of my area of expertise, but I understand that at least in Manitoba where I live, it's the schools that are responsible for the children's language education. But, yes, a variety of strategies need to be sought.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

We've had groups from Syria in particular who don't speak French or English.

Ms. Stachova.

[Olga Stachova]

When it comes to LINC, I understand that the government introduced the portfolio-based learning approach. We've seen great results in the four language centres we are running, but you're right that there are certain groups that don't work well with this. There's a lot of pressure for them to progress. We see it with seniors. We see it with individuals who might have learning disabilities. We see it also with individuals who might have a lower level of literacy, who might not have completed education in their home countries. I believe that it would be good to look at what would work for these groups, because it's quite stressful for them to be in the regular classes. We would encourage looking at learning approaches that might better meet their needs.