Canada announces new funding to help newcomers settle and improve language skills

To meet the growing needs of immigrants and refugees, the government of Canada funds number of settlement, adaptation and integration services as well as language training, in partnership with provinces, territories and settlement providers, as part of its LINC, ISAP and HOST programs.

Under the $920 million Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement (COIA), a new funding of more than $10 million, over the next two years, will spent on essential settlement services for newcomers to Scaborough, the eastern suburb of the city of Toronto and the safest large metropolitan area in North America by Places Rated Almanac.

The funding will be used for delivering language training to nearly 1,800 students, referrals to community resources, and general information and employment-related services to 4,100 newcomers through Mennonite New Life Centre of Toronto ($2,636,961), Catholic Cross-Cultural Services ($4,458,538), East Metro Youth Services ($220,730), Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) ($420,208), Canadian Arab Federation ($2,544,815) and Tropicana Community Services ($203,954). This new funding will also use to help young newcomers by providing preventative programs that address the psychological and emotional challenges youths often face when settling and integrating in a new environment.

After this new funding, the year-to-date funding to immigrant serving organizations in the Scarborough area alone have now reached to more than $19 million.

Similarly, as part of its $1.4 billion ‘additional settlement funding package’ to provinces and territories other than Quebec, a new funding of nearly $4.2 million will be provided to immigrant-serving organizations of two major cities of Saskatchewan.

In Regina, a new funding of $1,922,871, over the next year, will be provided to four different immigrant-serving organizations namely Regina Open Door Society ($1,420,575), Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology ($357,376), Regina Immigrant Women’s Centre ($24,920) and Assemblée communautaire fransaskoise ($120,000) to help deliver necessary and important programs such as language training for over 1,600 newcomers and provided community resources for assistance in settling into their new communities and finding a job.

In Saskatoon, a new funding of $2,228,014, over the next year, will be provided to four different immigrant-serving organizations namely Saskatoon Open Door Society ($1,276,641), Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology ($754,075), Global Gathering Place ($76,279) and Saskatchewan Intercultural Association ($121,019) to help deliver necessary and important programs such as language training for over 2,000 newcomers and provided community resources for assistance in settling into their new communities and finding a job.

For 2008–09, Saskatchewan will be receiving more than $5.5 million in basic settlement funding, an increase of more than $1.5 million over the previous year.