The matching centre

Have you ever wondered how refugees end up living in different parts of Canada? For more than 20 years, the Matching Centre has helped government-assisted refugees find a city to call home.

The Matching Centre is at Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s (CIC) national headquarters in Ottawa. It works with CIC visa offices abroad to learn about the background and unique needs of government-assisted refugees coming to Canada.

Working closely with CIC’s regional and local offices, the Matching Centre decides which city will best suit each refugee’s needs, based on such things as:

• the language they speak;
• work experience;
• where friends and family live in Canada;
• ethnic, cultural and religious communities in the area;
• medical issues; and
• availability of settlement services.

Refugees come to Canada fleeing hardship and persecution in search of safety and a chance to start a new life. The Matching Centre is an important step in this journey. The Centre’s priority is to find a community which will let these people connect with a support network that can help them adjust to life in Canada.

Based on the total number of refugees that it will resettle that year, CIC consults with the provinces to determine the number of refugees each will take. Government-assisted refugees go to any of 23 cities in Canada outside the province of Quebec (which manages its own program under the terms of the Canada-Quebec Accord).

Once a city has been chosen, the Centre informs the visa office, and travel arrangements for the refugee are made, usually by the International Organization for Migration. Final arrival details are then sent to the Matching Centre, which shares them with local CIC offices, ports of entry, service-providing organizations and sponsoring groups (if applicable) to help officials prepare for the refugee’s arrival.

The highest number of government-assisted refugees are resettled in Ontario, followed by Quebec and Alberta.