Thank you.
Good afternoon. I'm delighted to be here. My name is Ahmed Hussein. I'm the executive director of TNO, The Neighbourhood Organization, which is a settlement agency in Toronto. I would like to speak on the range of settlement services provided.
It's important to do a needs assessment for all newcomers who come to our organization or to a similar organization that provides settlement services. Basically, it's for the whole family or some of the family. It's really to identify their needs, their priorities and their expectations, and to set up goals. Group information sessions cover a large number of things that a large number of people need—employment information, parks and recreation information, school information and those kinds of things.
Another component that has really become more and more important now is community connections, which is really about connecting them with established Canadians. It became quite effective during the time of the Syrian refugees. A number of private sponsors sponsored and actually enhanced community connections. It was about facilitating their connection with somebody who could enhance their network and enhance their employment opportunities—somebody who was established, who knew employment information, and who had a large number of networks.
There are also support services such as providing childminding when workshops are happening or when language training is happening. As well, especially for GARs, government-assisted refugees, there are translation and interpretation services.
After doing all of that, and after the review of the services they need, they will get a lot of referrals to connect them with wherever the holistic needs assessment indicates. It could cover the whole family. For example, with a family of four or five, a number of things will be touched—employment, attending school, or connecting with youth recreation services and youth opportunities. It will clearly follow whatever the needs assessment plan is. One of the most important things is the access to employment, which is really about settlement. They will move forward when they're able to get employment. That's actually the most important thing. Within that process, they're also getting some sort of civic engagement. It connects them to the things that are happening in their neighbourhood and to being part of the community. That way the cohesiveness of a community or neighbourhood exists when newcomers come.
This programming format can be delivered by drop-in or group settings or online. In some cases, for the last couple of years successful settlement services have been delivered in the school setting, for example, through SWIS, the settlement workers in schools program, and in libraries, recreation places, and faith places. It's also important to have flexible hours, on weekends and evenings. A lot of people are working odd hours in some cases, and having access to services is important.
Looking at best practices, really you create a welcoming environment for them to be comfortable in. When you make them comfortable, you get more information to help them. You provide culturally appropriate services in terms of their language needs and in the geographical area where they can access the language. You also need good listening skills to see what their needs are.
Again, one of the other important things is really working with established Canadians so that you can really connect with them. Mentorship and community connections are critical points of their success. Those sponsored by private sponsors are actually more successful than are the GARs because they have a network that is working for them.
One of the other things is to really reinforce with them about being active citizens and engaging, because at the end of the day you want the newcomers to be settled properly, to participate and to create the harmony that we want to have in our country. Some of them are entrepreneurs and the settlement services can help with a lot of information on referrals. Now more and more people are asking for support in businesses. For example, in our area, a lot of them are actually doing catering or sewing, and selling their services to neighbours who have higher incomes compared to those in other areas. You also have to make sure that whatever you are doing, they are participating and that you are not pushing them into things that might not be important for them or things that are not helping them.
One issue that still exists is access to regulatory bodies like engineers, doctors and lawyers. It's still a challenge even though more and more improvements are happening. The other thing is that at all of these policy tables where newcomer issues are discussed, they're not there, and that needs to be recognized and built on.