Citizenship and Immigration committee  I would say that for Syrian refugees we're looking at it as an initiative. I think the long-term challenge as leaders, as the Canadian government or as an organization, is having a good vision of creating a welcoming environment and mobilizing the communities to make it happen. I

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No, given the current.... Even with the regular settlement programs, we are experiencing funding cuts in two years. With additional funding dollars, it's still not enough. We are looking at how investment can be made, and we know that long term through Stats Canada and also rec

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Maybe I can try to answer that. I think the ultimate goal is to find a place where the Syrian refugee feels comfortable residing. The challenge, of course, is dealing with temporary accommodation. That is where they need to land and relax a little bit and have time to explore t

Citizenship and Immigration committee  From an individual perspective, I would say it's from the refugee, if they suffer from needing dental care, I think it's always important they have that opportunity to have a tooth extracted, or have an X-ray. We're not talking about major care. It is something that helps many re

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, I do have concern in terms of how we can strategize and make a better coordination effort within Canada, and of course with local communities, to have the infrastructure in place. When I say “infrastructure in place”, right now, through IRCC, we're welcoming community initi

Citizenship and Immigration committee  So far, in terms of the best practices that we are looking at, first of all, we definitely see a strong interest from the business community, or the corporate employers. Overall, they are interested in how they can support refugees. I think that's a shift not just in terms of loo

Citizenship and Immigration committee  —and refugee children with developmental delays, so if IFHP can support them, I think that would be very good. The last point is about the non-Syrian refugees. We think that it is important that it's not just focused on Syrian refugees but looks at refugees from other countries

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you for inviting me to the meeting today. I am an executive committee member of the CCR, and I also work as the director of family and settlement services for MOSAIC in Vancouver. I have been working with the sector for about 24 years. I am going to highlight some of our

Citizenship and Immigration committee  My experience working in Vancouver with CIC is a good one. First of all, CIC returned to B.C. about a year ago and many of the staff are new. About 50 or 60 new staff members are working with us. They are really responsive. They are quick in replying to our queries. They visit ag

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I definitely see pre-arrival as really important. I came to Canada 27 years ago. I still remember the consulate telling me when I came here that my resumé would be at the bottom of the pile. I still remember him warning me that I would have to really survive, and I would have to

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I would definitely say that there is always improvement, particularly for immigrant women, in terms of family reunification. We talked briefly about the child care provision for many government-assisted refugees. When they come here, they are attending the RAP, the resettlement a

Citizenship and Immigration committee  For immigrant women, we see that many of them may not access services in the beginning because they have many family responsibilities which they think are important for them to look after first. By the time they feel it's time to integrate, to become economically engaged in a job

Citizenship and Immigration committee  For me, I like the notion of telling stories. When we look at success, we're really looking at how individuals integrate and become part of Canada. We talked about the Vietnamese boat people many years ago, and nobody's talking about them now, because they are already in the comm

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'd like to add one point about immigrant women, and it's true across Canada. Many of them spend much of their time looking after their children or family, and when they want to access settlement services, their eligibility has expired because once they become a Canadian citizen,

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, for sure. I know that with CIC we have been, as a sector, addressing this issue through many venues, through the CCL consultations, and also through the National Settlement Council that we really are looking at. In the short term, yes, many refugees are vulnerable. They co