Question Period Note: SETTLEMENT SERVICES

Update on how IRCC supports settlement services for immigrants.

• Canada is recognized as a world leader in the settlement and integration of newcomers.

• The federal government is investing approximately $1B in 2022-2023 to support the settlement needs of newcomers (outside of Quebec).

• This investment recognizes that strong settlement services provide newcomers a solid foothold to contribute to Canadian society.

• The 2024-2026 Immigration Levels Plan projects stabilized levels in permanent resident admissions. Canada aims to welcome 485,000 new permanent residents in 2024, and 500,000 in both 2025 and 2026.

• Settlement services will be key to supporting Canada’s rising immigration levels and maintaining a strong and resilient economy.

If pressed:
• Through language training, employment-related services and more, the settlement sector plays an important role in helping newcomers integrate into the labour market and society.

• Our successes and lessons learned in settling newcomers have given us a strong foundation as we welcome a record number of newcomers to Canada.

• We are not alone in this work; we rely on the extensive network of partners and organizations that deliver services to help newcomers build new lives in Canada.

• Canada is recognized internationally for its inclusive policies that support diversity and for its unique two-way approach to integration. One objective of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act Section 3 (1) (e) is “to promote the successful integration of permanent residents into Canada, while recognizing that integration involves mutual obligations for new immigrants and Canadian society”.

• Canada has a managed immigration model that includes setting annual immigration levels, selecting immigrants, supporting their settlement in the early years after arrival, facilitating the acquisition of Canadian citizenship and assisting with long-term integration. The ultimate goal is for newcomers to fully participate in the economic, social, cultural and political life of Canada.

• The 2024-2026 Levels Plan acknowledges that Canada’s ability to welcome, settle, and integrate newcomers is facing increasing pressure. The plan maintains predictability, stabilizing projections to allow for coordinated planning with partners and sustainable population growth, allowing time for successful integration while continuing to support Canada’s labour market.

Settlement services for newcomers in Canada

• All permanent residents (including protected persons, such as resettled refugees) are eligible to receive settlement services in English or French, until they become Canadian citizens. Temporary residents, asylum seekers and Canadian citizens are generally not eligible for federally-funded settlement services.

• Federally-funded settlement services are delivered in English or French by more than 550 third-party service provider organizations across Canada (excluding Quebec, where services are determined by the Canada-Quebec Accord). This includes close to 80 Francophone service providers in Francophone-minority communities.

• Through these organizations, newcomers can access the following federally-funded settlement services in English or French:

• • Needs and assets assessments and referrals;
• Information and orientation, both pre- and post-arrival to Canada;
• Language training
• Employment-related services;
• Community connections to build social cohesion and allow newcomers to develop a sense of belonging; and
• Additional support services to encourage uptake and remove barriers to accessing settlement services, including child care, transportation, translation, interpretation, short-term counselling and provision of services for newcomers with disabilities.

Newcomer mental health and well-being

• Many refugees arrive in Canada with psychological trauma as a result of their experiences, including the horrors of war. For that reason, they often have unique medical needs. The Department funds organizations to deliver non-clinical, mental health-related supports, provide community-based health information and raise the awareness of newcomers’ mental health needs with health care providers, complementing provincial/territorial health care provision.

Supporting specific populations

• Tailored supports are available to newcomer populations that face additional barriers to services and who are at increased risk of marginalization, including racialized women, youth, seniors, people living with a disability and members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community.

• For example, the government has invested $5.9M for ten projects until 2025 to support targeted employment services for racialized newcomer women through the Settlement Program.

• To help those fleeing the war in Ukraine settle in their new communities, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has temporarily extended access to the Settlement Program to Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel holders, Ukrainian nationals with temporary resident status in Canada, and their dependents, until March 31, 2025.

Special measures in response to the situation in Ukraine

• In March 2022 the Department introduced the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) to offer a pathway for temporary residence to Ukrainians and their family members fleeing Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. CUAET provides an accelerated temporary residence pathway for Ukrainians and their family members looking to work, study or simply stay in Canada for up to three years.

• The intake of CUAET applications closed on July 15, 2023. The entire CUAET inventory will be processed to completion, and CUAET clients will have until March 31, 2024 to travel to Canada under the special measures. Clients with CUAET visas who do not arrive by March 31, 2024 will still be allowed to travel to Canada, but will do so as regular TRV holders.

• CUAET holders who arrive in Canada by March 31, 2024, are eligible for:

o one-time financial assistance in the amount of $3000 per adult and $1500 per child 17 years of age of younger, to help address their immediate and basic needs upon arrival; and

o up to two weeks of temporary hotel accommodation, if required.

• To help them settle in their new communities, IRCC has temporarily extended access to the Settlement Program to CUAET holders, Ukrainian nationals with temporary resident status in Canada, and their dependents, until March 31, 2025.

• Despite the end of CUAET intake on July 15, 2023, Ukrainians can still apply to come to Canada through existing temporary resident programs. Once in Canada, they will be eligible to apply, until March 31, 2024, for an extended stay of up to three years through open work permits, study permits, and/or extended visitor records, which will be prioritized.

Housing availability and affordability for newcomers

• The government recognizes that the lack of affordable and available housing is affecting both Canadians and newcomers.

• For newcomers, housing is a key component in their successful settlement and integration, which allows them to achieve the long-term social and economic benefits of immigration.

• In collaboration with settlement service providers in communities across Canada, as well as federal and provincial partners, IRCC will continue to provide information to newcomers to assist them with finding housing.

• To better support vulnerable newcomers such as government-assisted refugees, IRCC funds supports under the Resettlement Assistance Program, including temporary accommodation upon arrival, assistance finding permanent accommodation, and 12 months of income support, which includes allowances for accommodation.

• The Settlement Program also plays an important role in increasing the supply of housing by supporting the successful integration of newcomers into the Canadian labour market, including in the skilled trades and construction sector, through a suite of employment-related services funded by IRCC.

• The Government of Canada plans to invest approximately $495M in 2023-24 to support service provider organizations delivering settlement services to immigrants and refugees in Ontario. This includes approximately $175M in federal settlement funding planned for 2023-24, to support settlement services for immigrants and refugees in the Toronto area.

Opportunities for newcomers to learn French

• IRCC’s Settlement Program promotes both of Canada’s official languages by funding language training across the country (outside Québec) in French or English, to meet the needs of newcomers settling in Canada. Programming is designed to be flexible and accessible to all permanent residents and other eligible clients, through full- or part-time classes, in classroom, online or hybrid classes. To facilitate participation, training is offered to newcomers in tandem with support services such as care for their children and transportation.

• Through funding from the Official Languages Action Plan (2018-2023), seven service providers receive funding to deliver English and/or French language training services specifically adapted to the needs of French-speaking newcomers in Francophone minority communities to help them settle economically and socially.

• The Government announced in April 2023 funding of $10.5 million for the period 2023-28 from the new Action Plan for Official Languages (2023-2028) to expand the availability of this programming.

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