Some of many Manitoba delegates at Metropolis 2015.

From March 26th – 28th, 2015, several MIRSSA member and others from the settlement community had the opportunity to attend and present at the Metropolis conference.  Our congratulations to Immigration Research West and the Association for Canadian Studies on a very successful event with lots of good discussion.  The complete conference program can be downloaded from the ACS website.

The 2016 Metropolis conference will take place in Toronto from March 3rd – 5th, 2016.

Join us to explore questions affecting refugee protection and newcomer settlement at the Canadian Council for Refugees Spring Consultation. All are welcome to participate!

With views from all Canadian provinces and with participants in fields as diverse as healthcare, housing and the law, the conference offers opportunities for professional development, networking and strategy.  Register here.

The local organizing committee is also recruiting volunteers to help with the consultation.  Volunteers must attend a volunteer training on Tuesday, May 19 at 6pm. See further detail in the 2015 CCR Winnipeg Consultation Call for Volunteers and fill out the volunteer application form by 5pm on Friday, May 1. As there are only spaces for 30 volunteers, incomplete forms will not be considered.

MIRSSA is happy to welcome the University of Winnipeg’s English Language Program as a new associate member.  The ELP is home to both the Global Welcome Centre and English for Specific Purposes.  

English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is a learner-centred approach to teaching English as an Additional Language, which focuses on developing communicative competence in a specific discipline such as academics, accounting, agrology, business, IT, teaching, and engineering. Students are also exposed to Canadian workplace or academic culture and real world communication practice.

The Global Welcome Centre (GWC) offers academic services that help permanent residents living in Manitoba gain access to and succeed in higher education. Both programs are funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada and operate under the umbrealla of The English Language Program at the University of Winnipeg.

See their member page here.

We are happy to share MIRSSA’s 2014-15 Annual Report.  Thanks to all who have helped to make this year interesting and full of learning.

MIRSSA is pleased to welcome the Neighbourhood Empowerment and Resource Centre as a new member organization.  NEARC is active in supporting newcomer families and working with youth and parents, as well as students and seniors.  Visit their webpage to learn more.

National Francophone Immigration Week will take place November 1st – 7th, 2015.

How can you participate?

• Visit FranchoponeImmigration.ca during the last week of October to find out about local events
• Participate in the Proud of Francophone Diversity social media campaign
• Follow the hashtag #immfr

Contact the Manitoba Réseau en Immigration Francophone (Francophone Immigration Network) to find out more.

Newcomer serving organizations welcome plans to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees

The federal government’s plans to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada over the coming months are warmly welcomed by ten national, regional and provincial umbrellas of organizations serving newcomers across Canada. The umbrellas have a combined membership of over 550 organizations with approximately 40 years’ experience and expertise in welcoming newcomers, including refugees.

The organizations are confident in Canada’s capacity to welcome the Syrian refugees who will be joining our communities. As a country, we have a great deal of experience in welcoming refugees. We have existing programs to support resettled refugees and the organizations directly involved are eager to expand their capacity to respond to the increased numbers in the coming months.

The situation in the countries surrounding Syria is urgent, because refugees don’t have enough to eat, children are not in school and winter is coming. It is therefore important that we act quickly. We are privileged in Canada to have the resources to welcome 25,000 refugees in the coming weeks without creating any crisis. Compared to the two million refugees hosted by Turkey, or the million refugees in Lebanon, the number to be welcomed by Canada is very modest.

Everyone needs to play a role in the response to the Syrian refugees: all levels of government, institutions, community organizations and individual citizens. The many offers to volunteer and contribute in various ways are gratefully received and underline the desire of Canadians across the country to welcome refugees.

It is important for Canadians to expect a great diversity among the refugees to be resettled. Some will be Muslim, others Christian, others entirely secular. We anticipate that some will be LGBT. They may be highly educated or have minimal education. Some are likely to be highly traumatized, while others may be able to integrate quickly into the job market. We should look forward to the many ways in which they will contribute to our communities, showing courage and resilience.

As we welcome Syrian refugees to Canada, it is important that we remember refugees from elsewhere. According to the UNHCR, a third of the more than a million refugees in need of resettlement are in Africa.

Acknowledging that Syrian refugees will join other Canadians in settling on the lands of the Indigenous Peoples, the organizations note the importance of moving quickly to implement Recommendation 93 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which calls for newcomers to be given better information about diverse Aboriginal Peoples, including about the Treaties and the history of residential schools.

It is also crucial for Canadians to address the issues of racism, sexism and Islamophobia within Canadian society that compromise our ability to be a welcoming country for refugees.

Some of the Syrian refugees who will be resettling here already have family in Canada. There is continuing concern, however, for Syrian Canadians with affected family members for whom there is still no avenue to bring their family members to safety.

The organizations welcome the federal government’s decision to exempt arriving Syrian refugees from the burden of the transportation loans (i.e. the obligation to repay the Canadian government for the cost of their travel to Canada and their immigration medical exam). The transportation loan has a devastating impact on resettled refugees, undermining their settlement process in Canada. The organizations hope that the elimination of the loan for the Syrian refugees may be the first step to abolishing it for all resettled refugees.

Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR)
Affiliation of Multicultural Societies & Service Agencies of British Columbia (AMSSA)
Alberta Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies (AAISA)
Saskatchewan Association of Immigrant Settlement and Integration Agencies (SAISIA) Manitoba Immigrant and Refugee Settlement Sector Association (MIRSSA)
Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI)
Table de Concertation des organismes au service des personnes Réfugiées et Immigrantes (TCRI)
Atlantic Region Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies (ARAISA)
Multicultural Centre of the Yukon
Canadian Immigrant Settlement Sector Alliance – Alliance canadienne du secteur de l’établissement des immigrants (CISSA-ACSEI)

Contacts:

Janet Dench, Executive Director, Canadian Council for Refugees, (514) 277-7223, ext. 2, jdench@ccrweb.ca

Lynn Moran, Executive Director, Affiliation of Multicultural Societies & Service Agencies of British Columbia, (604) 718-2780, lmoran@amssa.org

Fariborz Birjandian, Chair, Alberta Association of Immigrant Settlement and Integration Agencies, (403) 262-2006, fbirjandian@ccis-calgary.ab.ca

Beulah Gana, Director, Saskatchewan Association of Immigrant Settlement and Integration Agencies (SAISIA), (306) 986-1340, director@saisia.ca

Bequie Lake, Director, Manitoba Immigrant and Refugee Settlement Sector Association (MIRSSA), (204) 943-9969 ext. 291, director@mirssa.org

Debbie Douglas, Executive Director, Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI), (416) 322-4950, ext. 229, ddouglas@ocasi.org

Stephan Reichhold, Executive Director, Table de Concertation des organismes au service des personnes Réfugiées et Immigrantes, (514) 791-2455, reichhold@tcri.qc.ca

Gerry Mills, President, Atlantic Region Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies (ARAISA), (902) 423-3607, gmills@isans.ca

Darlene Doerksen, Chief Executive Officer, Multicultural Centre of the Yukon, ddoerksen@yukontec.com

Chris Friesen, Chair, CISSA-ACSEI, (778) 995-3009, chris.friesen@issbc.org

Community Update: Syrian Refugee Resettlement in Manitoba

As Manitoba prepares to welcome an increased number of refugees this winter, including many refugees from Syria, many community members have expressed interest in supporting the efforts of settlement and integration organizations.

Resources to Learn More:

The federal government has launched a #Refugeeswelcome website on the Syrian refguee response to keep the public informed and updated.  You can also learn more about the federal government’s five step resettlement plan or the provincial government’s response.

Manitoba Labour and Immigration is also compiling a list of resources that may be helpful to those who will work with refugee families after their arrival to Manitoba.

Private Sponsorship:

For those seeking information about the private sponsorship of Syrian refugees, please consult the Refugee Sponsorship Training Program and “Guide to the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program“.  To find which communities privately sponsored refugees will be destined to across Canada, consult this interactive map.

Volunteers / Donations:

In Manitoba, the Red Cross is operating a telephone line for inquiries about volunteering and donations.  The number is 1-888-662-3211 and it’s toll-free across Manitoba. The phone line is being staffed Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT.

The Boards of Directors and staff of the Manitoba Immigrant and Refugee Settlement Sector Association (MIRSSA) and the Manitoba English as an Additional Languages Organizations (MEALO) are pleased to share that we will be amalgamating to become the…

Manitoba Association of Newcomer Serving Organizations (MANSO)

The amalgamation will take place in early spring 2016, and is the culmination of more than a year of intensive collaboration between the MIRSSA & MEALO boards of directors.

As umbrella organizations, MEALO and MIRSSA both have a mandate to support newcomer-serving organizations, with the long term goal of better supporting newcomers to Manitoba with their settlement and integration.

Amalgamation will…

Allow us to speak with one voice.

Our voice at provincial, regional and national tables will be stronger if we are able to draw on the knowledge and expertise of all MEALO and MIRSSA’s members.

Increase collaboration.

The opportunity to network with all types of newcomer-serving organizations will better allow all members to collaborate on joint initiatives and lend support to each other.

Build on our strengths.

MIRSSA and MEALO each have unique strengths as organizations; amalgamation will help us to build on our successes while reducing duplication.

The Integration Working Group collaborated with facilitator Erin Huck (Health In Common) on developing an initial mission, vision and values for the amalgamated organization.

MANSO Vision: Newcomers to Manitoba are welcomed, supported and engaged

MANSO Mission: To provide leadership, support and a unified voice for the settlement and integration sector, including core settlement services, language training, employment services, and welcoming communities.

Further details will be shared as they are available. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact staff or board members of either organization.

Many of our member organizations have been very active in supporting newly arrived refugee families as they settle in Manitoba.  We appreciate the generous and welcoming response from Manitoba communities.

Donations

Some have been accepting some in-kind donations to support those families, although many are restricted in the kinds of donations they can accept due to storage limitations.  Contact us to be connected to organizations accepting donations.

The Salvation Army thrift stores have also agreed to offer vouchers to government assisted refugee families for free items from their stores.  They accept donations at their many locations in Winnipeg.  See http://thriftstore.ca/manitoba/locations to find one near you.

Volunteer Opportunities

There are also opportunities to volunteer with settlement and community organizations to help these families.  Contact us to find out how.

Housing

Landlords interested in offering rental housing to newcomer families can contact refugeehousing@gov.mb.ca.

This is the document SPOs collaborated on at the MEALO Workshop/TEAM Conference on May 29th, 2015. All SPOs are welcome to download it and use it for their programs. Ongoing suggestions and edits are welcome as this is a ‘living document’ Manitoba Operations Guidelines Manual
Available on Tutela in the MANSO Language Coordinators group

The Pathways to Prosperity Partnership will hold its Fourth Annual Conference at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa on Thursday and Friday December 1 – 2, 2016, with a full-day Preconference Workshop on Wednesday November 30th

Tutela has some great resources for talking about mental health and mental illness with CLB 5-6 learners

What are the information needs, sources, and barriers to information experienced by immigrants throughout the immigration and settlement process?  This 2008 report out of the University of Toronto by Nadia Caidi examines these questions Caidi Information Practices of Immigrants to Canada

Starting June 1, 2016, the Mobilité Francophone stream will exempt employers from the Labour market Impact Assessment process for francophone workers in certain occupations in communities outside of Quebec.

March 17, 2016—Ottawa, ON–Attracting skilled francophone workers to Canada and encouraging them to settle in communities outside of Quebec is the goal of a new International Mobility Program stream that will launch on the first day of June.

“We want francophone minority communities in Canada to continue to be vibrant and growing,” Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister John McCallum said today. “That’s why we’re going to encourage skilled francophone workers to come to Canada and settle in communities outside of Quebec, and we’re going to encourage them to apply for permanent residence if they would like to stay.”

Starting June 1, 2016, the Mobilité Francophone stream will exempt employers from the Labour Market Impact Assessment process when they hire francophone workers in managerial, professional and technical/skilled trades occupations from abroad to work in francophone minority communities outside of Quebec.

“Canada’s diversity is enriched by our francophone minority communities all across the country,” said Canadian Heritage Minister Melanie Joly. “We want to see these communities flourish across Canada and immigration is strategic to preserving their vitality and prosperity.” – IRCC

2016 has been a challenging, exciting and very busy year for both Settlement and Language Service providers and I can think of no better time to join Bequie and Teresa, Seid, Michelle and Immaculate here at MANSO, our amalgamated umbrella organization. Their experience, expertise and commitment to ensuring newcomers to Manitoba are welcomed and engaged is matched only by that of the staff of the organizations they work so hard to support.

Last Wednesday, on only my third day here at MANSO, I had the pleasure of attending the Entry Program’s AGM. I was amazed to hear that they had worked with newcomers from 236 countries in the last fiscal year, with arrivals from the Philippines and India in a strong first and second position, but perhaps unsurprisingly, Syria coming in as the third largest source country with 7% of the total.

I arrived in Manitoba 12 years ago, as a Provincial Nominee, and since then I have been a client, EAL volunteer, direct services provider and finally a manager in our sector. I have already met representatives from many of our member organizations at meetings and conferences, and I hope to get to know many more of you face-to-face in the months to come.
Au plaisir de vous voir bientôt!

Vicki Sinclair

The Institute for Canadian Citizenship (ICC) is a national, non-profit charity that helps accelerate new citizens’ integration into Canadian life through original programs, collaborations and unique volunteer opportunities. ICC is seeking to rebuild its volunteer committee in Winnipeg.

ICC is currently looking for volunteers to be part of the ‘building citizenship program’ that welcomes and celebrates over 1,500 new citizens each year who choose to officially call Canada their home. The volunteer program relies on a national network of volunteers to organize special community citizenship ceremonies with unique roundtable discussions. The volunteers are crucial to running this program and in helping to welcome new Canadians on the day they become citizens.

This is an opportunity for those interested to get involved in welcoming new citizens in your country.

Why Volunteer?

• Create opportunities for new citizens to share their unique perspectives.
• Explore and advance the Canadian model of inclusion.
• Work with members of your community who share your interest in welcoming new citizens and organize Building Citizenship community citizenship ceremonies.
• Participate in a Building Citizenship community citizenship ceremony by facilitating roundtable discussions with new citizens

For more information, contact volunteer@icc-icc.ca

If you are interested, visit: http://www.icc-icc.ca/en/bc/apply.php for the application form

Several of MANSO’s members with specific expertise on women’s experiences of violence developed a brief in response to the invitation inform the Housing of Commons Standing Committee on Status of Women’s study on “Violence Against Young Women and Girls.” The Committee was concerned by the shortage of statistics and information on violence faced by young women and girls in Canada.

MANSO’s brief focuses on the experiences of newcomer women and girls in Manitoba, and proposes some recommendations for community engagement on this topic.

The brief was developed by Paula Migliardi (Sexuality Education and Research Centre), Evelyn Agedzi (Mount Carmel Clinic), Nina Condo (Elmwood Community Resource Centre), Susan Liddel-Delorme (NorWest Coop), Shereen Denetto (Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba), and Bequie Lake (MANSO).

On June 29th and June 30th 2016, key stakeholders and the wider settlement community came together to discuss lessons learned, best practices and challenges faced during the Syrian refugee resettlement initiative and how these findings can be used to ensure successful integration outcomes for all refugees and immigrants who settle in Manitoba.  This event was funded by and organized in collaboration with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

The executive summary and full report can be found on our Publications page.  The executive summary is being translated to French and will be available shortly.

We are pleased to share our 2015-16 Annual Report, which documents highlights of the final year of programming for both MIRSSA and MEALO, the two umbrella organizations that joined to form MANSO.  Thank you to all of our member organizations, partners, funders and other community members for your support.

We look forward to presenting our first MANSO Annual Report next year.