News Release - Government of Canada provides funding to organizations helping newcomers in Kingston

Kingston, September 4, 2008 — Rick Norlock, Member of Parliament for Northumberland-Quinte West, on behalf of the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, today announced funding in support of four organizations that deliver settlement services in the Kingston area.

Almost $4 million is going towards providing settlement services that include language training, a mentorship program, referrals to community resources, and help finding a job. The funding is expected to help more than 500 newcomers to the region and will be shared by Kendra Noble, Kingston Community Health Centres, Kingston Employment Youth Services and Kingston Literacy.

“The Government of Canada believes in immigration and is committed to helping newcomers and their families succeed,” said Mr. Norlock. “Settlement services give newcomers the help they need to learn one of our official languages, find a job and settle into the community. This funding will help newcomers integrate into the community here in Kingston. Their success is Canada’s success.”

Part of the funding will go towards services to help young newcomers in the region. Specifically, Kingston Community Health Centres is using the funding to establish a drop-in centre where newcomer youth will have access to a variety of information targeted exclusively towards them.

“Funding from the Government of Canada has increased the capacity of our organization to reduce barriers to health,” said Hersh Sehdev, Executive Director of the Kingston Community Health Centres. “We are now able to serve immigrants and government-assisted refugees by helping them make a better life for themselves and their families. These services are breathing new life into smaller urban centres like Kingston and making them more vibrant and enriched with the diverse cultures and skills of newcomers.”

“Over the past year our agency has had the opportunity to expand our services to immigrants in the Kingston area as a result of the generous support from the Government of Canada,” said Michael Harris, Executive Director of Kingston Employment Youth Services. “We have seen our English-language training program and immigrant employment services expand in partnership with other federally funded agencies here in Kingston. The capacity to build relationships—to work cooperatively to imagine and develop innovative ways of working—often makes the difference between being able to offer an important program or not. We are fortunate as a community that the Government of Canada recognizes the value of working in partnership.”

“This funding from Citizenship and Immigration Canada provides our organization with the opportunity to create a centre designed to tailor services to the English-language needs of newcomers to Canada,” said Carynne Arnold, Executive Director of Kingston Literacy. “For the first time in Kingston, immigrants who have limited literacy skills in their first language have a program geared to meet their specific language needs.”

Newcomers to Canada can also turn to the Foreign Credentials Referral Office (FCRO), which helps internationally trained individuals find the information they need to get their credentials assessed and recognized more quickly. Established in 2007, the FCRO provides information, path-finding and referral services to help internationally trained individuals use their skills in Canada. There are now 320 Service Canada centres across the country offering in-person foreign credential referral services to newcomers.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada funds a number of programs that help newcomers settle, adapt and integrate into Canadian society. These programs are delivered in partnership with provinces, territories and service-providing organizations.

For more information on CIC programs, please visit www.cic.gc.ca.

For further information (media only), please contact:

Tim Vail
Press Secretary
Minister’s Office
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
613-954-1064

Madona Mokbel
Communications
Ontario Region
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
416-954-7868

Backgrounder

• Announcement of settlement funding to help newcomers settle in Kingston