Evidence of meeting #142 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 programs.
A video is available from Parliament.
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
Have you thought of recommendations as to how we can improve language training for those who don't speak either French or English or who speak one and not the other?
Conservative
Executive Director, The Refugee Centre
I don't think you can have a blanket solution to this. Different provinces have different issues. Quebec's different from the rest of Canada on this. However, I think Quebec has proven to do quite well, actually, with their French-language program just because we have a structure in which they're incentivized to learn French by getting a stipend every week.
I think one of the problems you're facing here is the balance between getting a job or going to learn a language. They try to balance both and sometimes have to pick one or the other. When they're put into these labour jobs for which they don't need to meet a high qualification or a certain language requirement, they might put it off. Then again, here you've having to balance two different issues.
If you want to create a service, and if you're putting language as a priority, you should incentivize them. Maybe it's a stepping stone to a job, some sort of stipend per week, which is how Quebec does it.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and thank you to all the witnesses.
I'm going to start with Ms. Stachova.
You have actually a tremendous story to tell as a newcomer who came to Canada. Prior to this role at MOSAIC you worked at Mitacs and had a significant success story there. From the lessons learned that could be transported, with your own personal experiences, what do you think the government should do by way of recommendations in supporting newcomers so they too have the chance to flourish?
Chief Executive Officer, MOSAIC
Thank you.
Yes, I came to Canada 20 years ago very eager to build my life in Canada. I came with two master's degrees, a very good knowledge of English and work experience, but it took me a while to get a job. Because I knew someone who knew someone who knew someone, I landed my first job stocking shelves at Chapters. I was excited for that opportunity, but it wasn't quite utilizing my skill set. It was only because I found someone who took a chance on me later and saw beyond my accent and lack of Canadian experience and gave me the opportunity to work. When Mitacs started, I was able to progress and build my career at Mitacs.
For me, and in our proposal, it's so important to be able to give newcomers the opportunity, even if it's a short-term internship or co-op placement, where they have a chance to prove themselves, to get their first experience and get some advice from the employers on what it is they need going forward. That would be our key recommendation.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Would it help, for example, if the government had a program whereby we had an NGO, let's say, in touch with a group of potential employers and then match the newcomers to the jobs? Would that be a program that would be useful?
Chief Executive Officer, MOSAIC
It would be, and it's like three levels, for example, copying the very successful core program that exists at the universities. The structure is there. It works well. It was recognized that they not only test drive talent, but they also have an obligation to help youth gain experience, and the same model or the youth employment strategy and program could be easily applicable to newcomers.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
That would also help the newcomer override the chicken-and-egg problem, which is to say that you don't have Canadian experience but you can't get Canadian experience because, you know, you've never worked in Canada before.
To that end, I'm going to go to Mr. Daoud.
I visited your centre, and you showed me some of the fantastic programming that you have. One of the issues you had was, in fact, that matching, and with a tremendous success rate. As well, some of the technology that you have could help government process applications and streamline them, which would save resources on all sorts of fronts. I wonder if you could quickly comment on that.
I think we're going to run out of time, so the witnesses have any suggestions or additional information that they would like to share with our committee, please send them to the clerk so that we can consider them for recommendations to the government for action.
Executive Director, The Refugee Centre
I guess you want me to touch on the LUNA application. Right now we can't launch it nationally because we're a small not-for-profit based in Montreal, and we can't afford the hosting fees.
How it works is mostly refugee claimants are able to gain information on how to fill out the application. It talks to them in their native language. We've socially engineered it in a way that the questions are short and very concise, so we get concise answers. That way the translation process is very accurate. We have worked with many lawyers on this and with our own legal staff who we've worked with. We found that it saved up to 83% of their time, given the fact they don't have to pay translators and they don't have to get additional counsel. They can get them to fill it out on a phone or an iPad.
Yes, it has various uses. The great thing about this is expansion beyond just the refugee claimant aspect. They can go beyond that for other immigration processes and also for other forms and bureaucratic processes that immigrants have to go through. It can really tie into the pre-arrival services as well. There's a unique aspect to that, which I do recommend government look at in some sense, because it can really streamline, save money, make things a bit more efficient and make things more transparent.
There are a lot of crooked immigration practices due to crooked immigration lawyers. This is something that we're facing a lot. This happens constantly, all because people are given incorrect information, and they're misled. Having a centralized source of information, a database they can read in their language, would negate that tremendously.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant
Thank you.
I'm just going to reinforce what Ms. Kwan said. This is the second meeting of a minimum of seven on this study that will be going on. I encourage you to follow the deliberations of the committee and either add anything from your presentations or, if you see something that tweaks something you'd like to add into the conversation, please submit it.
All three of you have different perspectives. We've met before. I know a bit about the innovation you're doing and all that, and I think it's quite important. What I'm hoping the committee will get are best practices at smaller organizations doing something that can inspire us to make better programs. That's why you're all here today.
Thank you, and again our apologies for not having enough time with you. Be prepared; we may call you back.
The meeting is adjourned.