Settlement News
Update on the VSI National Working Groups and upcoming National Settlement
Conference
Published Jointly by Government and Sector
Issue 3 August 2003
Strengthening the Settlement Sector
Inside This Issue
General News – NSCII
General News – Canadian Heritage
Joint Planning Committee
Interest Group Meetings
Plenary Sessions
Workshops
The VSI Working Groups
Resources Area
Social Events
Conference Kits
Post-NSCII
About This Issue
Most of this newsletter is devoted to a description of the program for
the upcoming National Settlement II (NSCII) conference. The Program Committee
finalized the NSCII program early in July 2003.
General News – NSCII
The NSCII will take place at the Westin Hotel in Calgary, Alberta from
October 2 to October 5, 2003. The goal of NSCII is to enhance the contribution
and participation of immigrants and refugees in Canadian society by strengthening
government partnerships with the settlement sector. We expect about 400
participants at the invitation-only conference: 350 from the voluntary
sector and 50 from government (federal/provincial). Regional umbrella
organizations have completed the selection of sector delegates for their
respective provinces. If you have any questions about the delegate selection
process, please contact your provincial umbrella organization.
General News – Canadian Heritage
Heritage Canada and the Voluntary Sector Forum have developed ‘tools’
for the use of government and sector organizations involved in the Voluntary
Sector Initiative. Government departments can order these ‘tools’
from the Voluntary Sector Affairs Directorate of Canadian Heritage, 12
York Street, 3rd Floor, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 5S6, telephone (613) 998-7207.
The voluntary sector can order these ‘tools’ from the Voluntary
Sector Forum; please visit their web site at http://www.vsi-isbc.org.
Joint Planning Committee (JPC)
Bill Walters, Director of Settlement and Multiculturalism in British
Columbia, is temporarily replacing Roz Currie on the JPC until Roz’s
replacement has been hired. Thanks to Roz for her active participation
in the Voluntary Sector Initiative (VSI) project. We wish her well in
her new job with the B.C. government.
Interest Group Meetings
NSCII interest group meetings will be held Thursday October 2, late in
the afternoon, before the official conference activities begin. These
meetings will provide an opportunity for delegates to network and to exchange
ideas on an informal basis. Agendas for these meetings will be flexible
– with JPC members serving as moderators – and attendance
is optional. There will be seven different meetings covering the issues
of Health, Employment, Language, HOST/Volunteer/Community Bridging, Refugees,
Partnership Building and Education& Youth. If key recommendations
emerge at these meetings, they will be recorded and included in the proceedings.
Plenary Sessions
The opening plenary session, Effecting Change For Your Community,
will take place on Friday, October 3. Naomi Alboim, the conference moderator,
will be the facilitator for this plenary session. A four-person panel
will give advice on how to influence government policy-making in a meaningful
way. Discussions are intended to provide information that has a general
use – they will not be aimed solely at settlement policy. Some materials
will be sent out to delegates in September for their review prior to the
conference.
At the closing plenary session on Sunday, October 5, JPC co-chairs, Rosaline
Frith and Reza Shahbazi – along with facilitator Naomi Alboim –
will present the conference’s key recommendations, achievements
and next steps. VSI Working Group co-chairs will present the key recommendations
from their particular sessions as well. Further, there will be a discussion
of ways to continue the policy dialogue, carry on the momentum of NSCII
and continue the good work done under the VSI project after the conference.
Workshops
Forty workshops are planned for Friday, October 3 and Saturday, October
4, 2003. The number of panellists in each workshop will be limited to
four to allow sufficient time for questions and audience participation.
Some workshops will be 90 minutes, while others will be three hours in
length. A description of each workshop was included in the registration
package mailed out to delegates in July. Workshops will focus on health,
policy, employment, language and the settlement sector.
Registration is being done through Prime Strategies, the company contracted
to handle logistics for NSCII. Please note that if less than ten persons
are registered for a workshop, it will be cancelled. The key recommendations
of each workshop will be recorded and included in the proceedings. Delegates
are encouraged to register for workshops as soon as they receive their
registration packages.
The VSI Working Groups
In March 2003, working group participants and the JPC came together in
Toronto to launch the VSI working groups. Since March, the working groups
have held regular conference calls and prepared discussion papers. These
discussion papers will be sent to delegates in September so that they
have a chance to read them before the conference. Each group will present
their respective workshop(s) on Saturday. Delegates are encouraged
to read the discussion papers before the conference to ensure enriched
discussions during the workshops.
Group 1 Report
How to Maximize Current Settlement Work
This working group will offer a workshop at NSCII – the presenters
will be Bill McMichael, Joan Texeira, Claudette Legault and Brenda Lohrenz.
They will table the discussion paper Promising Policies and Practices
for Maximizing Settlement Work. The paper will address policy issues
such as settlement funding and pre-arrival information, and include the
results of first-language community consultations conducted in various
immigrant and refugee communities across Canada. The research focused
on exemplary settlement practice from the perspectives of newcomers and
service providers. Brenda Lohrenz, who co-ordinated the development of
a National Network for LINC/ELSA, MIIP-ESL Providers, will present an
overview of the network. Brenda will also comoderate the interest group
meeting on Language Issues with Alison Norman, co-chair of English Language
Services for Adults (ELSA) in British Columbia.
Group 1 Co-chairs
Bill McMichael (sector co-chair)
Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks, National Organization
e-mail: mcmichael@ritslab.ubc.ca
Joan Texeira (government co-chair)
Citizenship and Immigration Canada,
Integration Branch, NHQ, Ottawa
e-mail: joan.texeira@cic.gc.ca
Group 2 Report
Small Centre Strategy
Lynne Belding, from the Prairie Region of CIC, has replaced Jean-Claude
Morin as co-chair. Jean-Claude has moved to another job in CIC and we
wish him well in his new position! This group’s products include
a discussion paper on Small Centre Strategy and a Framework
for a Toolbox. Both products will assist communities (outside Toronto,
Montreal and Vancouver) in creating a welcoming atmosphere for newcomers
to help ensure that they are integrated into smaller centres. The group
will offer a workshop at NSCII on Small Centre Strategy, where they will
present the Report on Small Centre Strategy - Regional Dispersion
and Retention of Immigrants. The presenters will be Robert Godkin,
Lynne Belding and Tom Denton. Ideas for the expansion of the work currently
undertaken by this group will also be offered. Work on the Small Centre
Strategy toolbox is expected to continue after NSCII.
Group 2 Co-chairs
Robert Godkin (sector co-chair)
Kingston and District Immigrant Services, Ontario
e-mail: rgodkin@kdis.org
Lynne Belding (government co-chair)
Citizenship and Immigration Canada,
Prairie Region
e-mail: lynne.belding@cic.gc.ca
Group 3 Report
Settlement Accord
Jan Early has left the group; thanks to Jan for her participation in
VSI! This working group’s discussion paper concerns the VSI
Accord. The group will be running a workshop at the conference on
the Practical Application of the VSI Codes of Good Practice (you can
build the future of the Accord). Their discussion document is intended
to aid in practical implementation of the VSI codes of good practice on
policy dialogue and funding by the settlement sector and government. The
discussion document will take the form of an addendum to the VSI accord.
The workshop will be interactive so that the working group can improve
on this addendum. The presenters will be Reza Shahbazi and Camille Papanek.
Group 3 Co-chairs
Reza Shahbazi, (sector co-chair)
The New Canadian Centre of Excellence, Ontario br> e-mail: rshahbazi@ncce1.org
Camille Papanek, (government co-chair)
Citizenship and Immigration Canada,
Integration Branch, NHQ, Ottawa
e-mail: camille.papanek@cic.gc.ca
Group 4 Report
Settlement Standards, Professionalization and Accountability
The title of this working group’s discussion paper is National
Settlement Services and Standards Framework. They will be running
two workshops at the conference. The first, Towards a Common Approach
to Develop Outcomes in the Immigrant Settlement Sector will be presented
by Sherman Chan, Teresa Pires, Rob Boldt and Mario Allende. To create
a common approach to developing outcomes in the settlement sector, innovative
performance measurement and evaluation work is ongoing in three jurisdictions:
CIC/National, Alberta and British Columbia. The second workshop is Do
We Really Need Standards – Answering that Million-Dollar Question?
Francis Chan, Miranda Pinto and Paulina Maciulis will present this workshop.
They will be discussing the issue of the proposed implementation of performance
and professional standards for employees in the settlement sector, and
the implication of this on the sector, on individual agencies, and finally,
on settlement practitioners.
Group 4 Co-chairs
Sherman Chan (sector co-chair)
CCR/MOSAIC, British Columbia
e-mail: schan@mosaicbc.com
Teresa Pires (government co-chair)
Citizenship and Immigration Canada,
Integration Branch, NHQ, Ottawa
e-mail: Teresa.Pires@cic.gc.ca
Resources Area
There will be a resources area at NSCII where learning and best practices
can be shared. Exhibits will be put on by the government and settlement
sectors.
Social Events
On Thursday evening, October 2 there will be a reception at the Westin
Hotel from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Finger food will be served and a cash bar
will be available. There will be a ‘ fun’ social on Friday
evening, October 3 at the Roundup Centre, including a sit-down dinner
and live entertainment. Delegates must pay the $50 cost themselves. Persons
other than official conference delegates are welcome to attend the Friday
night social. Please register for this event when you register for your
workshops in order to help conference organizers with their planning.
A recognition event, which includes a sit-down dinner, will take place
on Saturday night. Guest speakers are being lined up – details will
be provided in the final program. After the dinner, those recipients of
the 2003 Citation for Citizenship who are attending the conference
will be presented with a Citation certificate signed by the Minister and
a lapel pin.
Conference Kits
Registration kits, including travel expense guidelines, the NSCII program,
workshop descriptions and hotel information, were sent to sector delegates
in July. Please register (through Prime Strategies) as soon as possible.
The sooner you register, the more likely you will be able to participate
in your choice of workshops.
Post-NSCII
Proceedings (including the key recommendations) will be prepared and
posted on Integration-Net by the VSI project Secretariat in December 2003.
Post-conference, JPC members have agreed to participate in follow-up
conference calls to address various issues and to help maintain the continuity
of this Voluntary Sector Initiative!
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