Citizenship and Immigration committee  IOM provides assistance to IRCC to fill out certain forms, for example in the adjudication process. Also, through all stages, whether it's medical or pre-departure, we outline the necessity that refugees declare all family members so that they can avail themselves of the one-year

Citizenship and Immigration committee  In the last calendar year, 2018, the number of refugees who left China was four, so it's not very high. India was higher, and we do multiple sessions in India. As for the Philippines, we did hold a small session there in the last calendar year as well, but the number there is als

Citizenship and Immigration committee  In addressing women and girls, in our sessions we focus on the equality of everyone here in Canada. We talk specifically about gender-based violence, and also domestic violence. We go about it by talking about the legality of things in Canada. We don't make sweeping condemnation

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes. We do talk about credentials, such as educational or professional credentials, and the overarching process of getting them recognized here, but we face a challenge in our COA sessions because we don't necessarily know where all the refugees are going. If they're GARs—gover

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The second recommendation was about timely refugee processing and planning. The first recommendation was providing appropriate funding to refugee-specific programming. As Ms. Choo mentioned, refugees have specific needs. Specific programming should be provided to them and consult

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We entered into a targeted service agreement for the next 4.25 years, and we're funded for $21.1 million. That includes all of the support services I mentioned—our staffing costs and all of the program-related costs. Our cost per capita is projected to be $446 per refugee over t

Citizenship and Immigration committee  IOM was funded between 1990 and 1998 to provide language training to refugees before they arrived. We see how language training before arrival can benefit newcomers, but we often see as well that in some situations, especially with displaced and vulnerable people, language traini

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, I do have some statistics. In fiscal year 2017-18, over 23,000 refugees moved with IOM to Canada. We calculated that of the 23,000 refugees, 15,434 were eligible for COA based on their age. We provided orientation to 76% of that number. The way we look at numbers is a bit d

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We're funded for pre-arrivals only, and the department has mandated us to really focus on the skills and knowledge necessary for their first three to six months within Canada. We haven't been able to do any sort of research into long-term goals, but I know that the department is

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Our mandate is to serve, as many as possible, all refugees worldwide. We have 12 permanent offices or sites, where we do refugee pre-departure training. Five of those have regional capabilities, so we do mobile sessions, depending on the location of the refugees. We work in the t

Citizenship and Immigration committee  For pre-arrival services for refugees, we're the only organization that does in-person information and orientation. Part of our funding package does mandate that we provide childminding services, transportation assistance and lodging assistance, when necessary, so it is something

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  My name is Matthew Cecchetto. On behalf of the International Organization for Migration, I would like to thank you for this invitation to discuss how the United Nations organization for migration provides pre-arrival services for refugees through the Canadian orientation abroad p