Status of Women committee  Thank you. My name is Jennifer Watts. I represent the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia, the only multi-service settlement agency in Nova Scotia and probably the largest one in Atlantic Canada. We've been providing services to refugees and immigrants for over 38 year

Status of Women committee  I'd be happy to answer questions about that afterwards.

Status of Women committee  Our experience right now is that when there is a difficulty or a problem it takes an inordinate amount of time to have them reapply, fill out the forms, and prove that their children are registered in school. This is so for the families who may be suffering from trauma and trying

Status of Women committee  It is my understanding that's a question of funding. We could certainly offer the services. It's not that we don't have the services, it's that we do not receive funding to be able to do that. If there were some acknowledgement and allowance to say that they do count as clients a

Status of Women committee  Thank you. I really appreciate that. This follows up from what the other speaker was saying in terms of looking at women who are in professional jobs but immigrant women are unable to move beyond a certain level. We have a study, and if anyone is interested, we have an employer

Status of Women committee  Certainly. I have a few more, if anyone is interested.

Status of Women committee  For sure. It has quite a bit of detail in it.

Status of Women committee  We try to provide a whole suite of language opportunities. Again, it's not the one-size-fits-all that needs to be understood. It's sometimes very difficult for women who have come into the country, who have large families, and are really struggling. Again, this is the child care

Status of Women committee  I think one of the critical things is the actual language training with trained EAL staff, who are constantly trained. If anyone is going to advance through to get the competency and to get their CLB 4 or 5, to be able to move into the workplace and work, it's going to require sp

Status of Women committee  Yes.

Status of Women committee  We have conversation circles that are run by volunteers. We're also beginning the HIPPY program, which is looking at having trained staff go into the home and work with women and their children. It's working with children in terms of literacy, but also helping women. There are a

Status of Women committee  Women are coming in with a variety of different experiences and backgrounds. Certainly the issue of international qualification recognition is very important. I must say that Nova Scotia has been a leader. I think we now have 13 specific groups we work with in engineering, pharma

Status of Women committee  I'm not sure about this exact fund, but we do have a fund that is supported through the government to allow people who have come, who don't have the funds, to be able to get their qualifications to study for exams, or to do certain things. It's a loan fund: they can receive a loa

Status of Women committee  It's very good.

Status of Women committee  We would certainly support the continued use of that resource. I think we're entering into some negotiations right now, but that has been very valuable. Also I would say support around the international qualification recognition program is really critical as well. I understand th