Six Ottawa organizations are set to receive a portion of $10 million from the federal government to help immigrants in the Ottawa and surrounding area overcome the challenges of moving to a new place.
“We recognize that Ottawa is a growing community for immigrants to Canada,” said Lonny Kates, spokesperson for Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
“We need to meet the demand of newcomers who arrive.”
The funding falls under the government’s Immigrant Settlement Adaptation Program (ISAP), which aims to provide immigrants with employment-related support services. The money given to the organizations will be spread over a two year period until March 2010.
LASI World Skills Inc. on Argyle Avenue is one of the six organizations, and will receive about $1.6 million.
Executive director Mengistab Tsegaye said the organization will use the funding to provide initial employment services. This includes helping newcomers with writing resumés, enhancing job search skills and offering employment counselling, support and guidance.
Tsegaye said the settlement and job-search process is challenging for immigrants, because they have to translate their skills, experience and education to meet Canadian standards.
“[Immigrants are] also competing with other Canadians who have the Canadian experience and education,” he said.
While the government is one of the major employers in Ottawa, in order to work for the government, individuals often need to be Canadian citizens and bilingual and pass a security clearance, and thus might need guidance, said Tsegaye.
“Being in Ottawa is a plus, but at the same time, it’s also very challenging to go through these processes.”
The Ottawa Public Library, which will receive more than $460,000, will use the funding for its Library Settlement Program, said Marcia Aronson, manager of adult and readers advisory services for the library.
“[The funding] leaves tremendous opportunity for us to be able to enhance our services for newcomers to Canada,” said Aronson.
She said the library places settlement workers in some of their branches through the program. The workers answer questions newcomers might have, from how to obtain a health card to how to sponsor a family member.
“Anybody who comes to a new country has questions and concerns, and it takes a while to feel that you’re a part of the community,” said Aronson.
Almost $2.2 million will go towards the Ottawa YMCA-YWCA’s Newcomer Information Centre.
The centre provides newcomers with information on services related to employment, health and housing, said Cathy Turnbull, vice-president, employment, enterprise and newcomer services for the YMCA-YWCA.
“Getting connected to employment is always a priority for people and making sure they can provide for their families,” she said.
Other organizations that will receive funding include the Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization, the Catholic Immigration Centre and the Ottawa Catholic School Board.
The funding falls under the Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement, which was signed in November 2005. The five-year agreement, which will end in March 2010, was initialized to give $920 million in additional funding for settlement services in Ontario.
The recently announced funding will not simply be given to the organizations in a lump sum, said Kates.
Each individual organization will have to invoice the government for its services.
The government will give the agencies the invoiced money at the end of each month for the services they provide through ISAP.
Kates said while the federal government does not have a future agreement in place for after March 2010, the possibility of forming another one exists.