National Initiatives

National Settlement Conference 2
(Calgary - October 2-5, 2003)

Key Outcomes of the VSI Initiative
“Strengthening the Settlement Capacity”

Settlement Outcomes

A. Better Pre-Arrival Information for Newcomers

• We should provide a realistic impression of the immigration and integration process, including the challenges that newcomers may face, for foreigners applying to immigrate to Canada.
• We should increase, standardize and streamline foreign credential recognition.
• We should develop consistent standards for credential recognition across all originating countries.
• We should help potential immigrants to obtain information about professional license requirements before they immigrate to Canada.
• We should form a link between the government and the private sector that requires employersto assist in the integratation of immigrants into the workforce.
• We should encourage collaboration and cooperation among all parties involved (government, employers, immigrant-serving agencies, and regulatory and licensing bodies) in order to improve the system and ease the integration of immigrants into Canadian society.
• The Canadian Orientation Abroad program could be enhanced to provide a greater range and variety of orientation resources.

B. Potential of Newcomers (Immigrants and Refugees) Is Fully Recognized and Appreciated

• The government should fund the development of language training programs that focus specifically on preparing newcomers for employment. Many participants stated that they would be willing to help newcomers find employment as an inclusive community development activity.
• Welcoming communities must be prepared to receive children within the school system. As well, adult education should be as flexible as possible.
• We should increase the participation levels of under-employed groups (including women, youth, people with disabilities, visible minorities and Aboriginal people).
• Family reunification processes should be expedited to enhance the full integration of immigrants.
• A community employment database is suggested as one tool that may help link newcomers to potential employers and help newcomers tap into the hidden job market. Employers would be encouraged to advertise positions to widen the posted list of available jobs.
• Income support programs for newcomers need to be examined to ensure that they are consistent with the goals of self-sufficiency for the immigrants and their families.
• The government’s role in supporting the Host program was generally viewed as an important component in assisting newcomers during the integration process.

C. Build Capacity of Local Communities to Attract and Retain Immigrants and Refugees

• There should be jointly determined pan-Canadian policies and programs that would respond to regional variations and to a bottom-up approach to implementation.
• Some of the programs that might be used or adapted to help communities attract and retain immigrants and refugees include the following.
  • Provincial Nominee Programs - Some provinces have the capacity, devolved from the federal government, to exercise a measure of control over the economic immigration stream. Manitoba has successfully attracted thousands of applications under this program, which has allowed it to select those applicants who have already secured employment and who have family links to the province, thus increasing the likelihood of the immigrant’s retention.
  • The Group of Five Concept - Five qualified individuals have long been permitted to sponsor a refugee or refugee family, and this system has worked well. This program might be similarly employed as one mechanism under the Provincial Nominee program.
  • Private Sponsorship of Refugees Programs - This program is a relatively untapped resource through which participating communities may attract newcomers. The Community Sponsorship program, a new initiative under the private Sponsorship of Refugees program, makes it easier for small organizations to sponsor refugees without having to set up a whole new structure.
  • Government Sponsorship of Refugees Program - This program is run by the federal government and currently brings approximately 7,500 refugees to Canada each year. They have been assigned to various centres historically and demonstrably equipped to receive them. Any changes to this model would require extensive multilateral negotiations; nevertheless, it is a source that communities may wish to explore.
  • International Students and Temporary Workers - While the new Immigration and Refugee Protection Act did not fulfill earlier expectations that international students and temporary workers would be given special access to immigration procedures, it is still too soon in the life of the new legislation to see whether such an opportunity will develop. This is an area that should be monitored and for which future lobbying may be appropriate. It would seem that persons admitted as students or temporary workers, and who therefore remain in a particular locale for some time, might have a propensity to remain there if admitted later as immigrants.

D. Settlement Services Are Professional and Relevant

• CIC should provide additional funding to those immigrant-serving agencies designated to provide services in both official languages. Additional funding would enable these agencies to enhance their capacity in French and to build partnerships with minority francophone communities to enhance their capacity to deliver settlement services in French.
• Funding should be provided for comparable levels of programming across Canada, particularly in smaller centres, for upper-level language training, employment preparation and Canadian work placements.
• Newcomers should be made aware of their eligibility for government and community programs. Real barriers that relate to length of stay, or inadvertent barriers arising from gaps in the newcomer’s knowledge, may encourage the newcomer to move.
• Cross-cultural training should be made available to workers and employers.
• There are agencies prepared to pilot the process and determine the level of resources and time required to implement core competencies for staff, as well as minimum program and organizational standards. Such a pilot would demonstrate the feasibility of implementing the service standards, as well as the resources required.
• We should share information on minimum core competencies for settlement counsellors, including best practices, inventory for training modules and professional development activities, and on initiatives taken by the sector.

E. Newcomers Acquire the Appropriate Resources to Bridge Their Talent and Skills

• We should undertake a comprehensive plan to improve the process for recognizing foreign credentials. We should begin overseas, coordinate credential evaluation processes, establish a single source of information on licensing requirements, establish norms for work experience and develop resources for employers.
• We should recognize academic and professional credentials.
• We should encourage mentoring and volunteering to help newcomers retain their job skills and to help them approach Canadian licensing requirements informally.

F. Settlement Services Are Appropriately Funded and Accountable to All Canadians

• Stable longer-term funding, with streamlined accountability and reporting processes, should be secured to provide for the continuum of settlement services.
• We should establish immediate, medium-term, and long-term outcomes and indicators of settlement to be measured and evaluated.
• We should conduct a feasibility study to to help establish minimum service standards for settlement services across Canada. This may include, but is not limited to human resource and financial implications, organization capacity building, case loads, the time ratio to be spent in direct and administrative service, and clients' code of rights to access settlement services.

G. Constructive Dialogue Between Government and the Settlement Sector in the Development of Policies and Programs

• We should explore processes that would promote the participation of certain sub-groups in policy and program implementation and development. This may comprise a continuation of the joint processes, including, but not limited to, national working groups, regional umbrella groups, regional roundtables, and the use of champions and spokespeople.
• We should establish an ombudsman to be an intermediary between the voluntary sector and the government.
• We should consider the recommendations of Working Group Three:
  • In terms of sustainability, we should apply principles in the funding code, such as, for example, multi-year funding arrangements.
  • In terms of accountability, we should have flexibility on joint governance issues.
  • In terms of policy, mechanisms should support ongoing dialogue.
  • We should have dispute resolution mechanisms.
  • An ombudsman should be established between the voluntary sector and the government.
  • Local, regional and national stakeholders need to be involved

H. Canadians Are Sensitized to the Positive Contribution of Immigrants and Refugees

• The Need for Public Awareness Strategies - There was an expressed need for further public awareness campaigns, aimed at multiple sources, including employers, employees, immigrants and the general public. These may include running anti-racism campaigns, promoting immigrants’ involvement in the political process, highlighting the benefits of immigration to the general public, raising awareness of francophone issues and running campaigns to promote participation in Host and in volunteer activities and to promote sponsorship. One workshop suggested that a “Year of Immigration Integration” would be an effective conduit through which to promote a range of settlement and integration related issues.
• Specific Suggestions for the Need for Resources - These include the development of manuals, toolboxes, handbooks and templates. The ready availability of such resources would assist with not having to “reinvent the wheel” each time a resource is required, when it might already be available. Concrete examples of these resources might include developing a Toolbox for the Small Centre Strategy, a Manual for the Host Program, a Template for Language Benchmarks and Competency Assessment Tools.
• The Need for Information Sharing Mechanisms - There is a recognized need for ongoing information sharing and for mechanisms to support this sharing, including such regular forums as conferences and the sharing of best practices, which could be supported through electronic means or newsletters.

VSI Outcomes

A. Independence

• We should recognize that the sector and the government each have their own identity, mandate and agenda.
• Each side is accountable, the Canadian government to the citizens of Canada, and the settlement sector to the immigrants and refugees they serve.
• The settlement sector has the right within law to challenge public policy and to advocate change. More than 350 individual recommendations were put forward at the NSC II and through the four VSI working groups.
• We should recognize that advocacy is inherent to debate and that it should not affect funding relationship. The NSC featured a policy plenary to inform the settlement sector about influencing policy and advocating change.

B. Interdependence

• We should recognize that both sides share the same common goal, which is to improve services to immigrants and refugees, and that they can work cooperatively to realize this objective.
• Each sector has valued relationships with other key players. It is necessary to work more closely with other federal departments, as well as with provincial and municipal governments. In addition, it is understood that there is a need to work with the private sector and labour organizations to improve the settlement and integration of newcomers in, for example, the areas of credentials recognition and employment mentoring.
• It is important that the sector develop and foster relationships with those doing similar and parallel work. Recommendations were aimed at improving relationships with schools, communities, post-secondary institutions, regulatory bodies, health facilities, and local, regional and national organizations.

C. Dialogue

• Dialogue has been improved between the government and the sector, and well as within the sector itself. This process proved to be an ideal forum for sharing information, best practices and lessons learned, as well as for networking. It also provided, at a more individual level, a chance to speak to other professionals in the settlement sector and to meet other like-minded people.

D. Cooperation and Collaboration

• The first and second National Settlement Conferences were organized at the initiative of the settlement sector. The Government of Canada responded by undertaking the conference planning in partnership with the sector. The entire process has been organized cooperatively and collaboratively.
• This process has been the conduit for a national dialogue involving the settlement sector, the Government of Canada and provincial partners involved in the settlement of immigrants and refugees. Thus, the collaborative process has extended even further beyond its original scope.

E. Accounting to Canadians

• A series of recommendations arising out of the NSC II were aimed at making CIC and other federal departments more accountable to the sector and its clients. These recommendations include the need to review accountability structures and to streamline them. Concrete examples might include published plans of action, published annual reports and two-way accountability frameworks, or a reporting mechanism whereby the government would demonstrate compliance with the Accord.
• We should ensure that transparency, monitoring and reporting on the results will be facilitated through the next steps.
• CIC will publish the proceedings of the Conference, which will be vetted through the Joint Planning Committee. The proceedings will be provided to all conference participants in hard copy and on the Web site.
• The recommendations that were put forward through the NSC II vary widely in terms of their level of specificity and also in terms of to whom they are addressed. The JPC will address these recommendations and develop a matrix by the end of the fiscal year (March 2004) to help us respond to these issues. This document will also serve as a report in terms of the VSI initiative.
• The JPC will develop a series of options for processes and vehicles to guide ongoing relations between the government and the sector. This will form the basis of a plan addressing options for continuing the relationship. The JPC will continue to function in order to see these commitments through. They have also resolved to develop a series of recommendations for future directions by the end of June 2004.

F. Commitments to Action

• Working Group 3 debated the need for a separate accord for the settlement sector, but when the draft Code of Good Practice on Policy Dialogue and the Code of Good Practice on Funding were released in the fall of 2002, members agreed that a separate settlement accord was not necessary. Consequently, the group shifted its focus toward producing a document that would discuss the practical application of the Accord and Codes to both the settlement sector and government.
• The final recommendation centres on establishing an ombudsman to serve the voluntary sector and the government. This would be a new initiative that has not been attempted in any other country.
• A voluntary sector ombudsman would investigate complaints, discuss issues with the parties involved and review documents and evidence relevant to the dispute. The ombudsman would be responsible for ensuring that the government and the sector are acting in accordance with the spirit and letter of the Accord and the Codes of Good Practice. She or he would recommend changes in policy or practice when they need to be brought in line and would negotiate a settlement or recommend a solution.

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