Speaking notes for The Honourable Jason Kenney, P.C., M.P. Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism

At a news conference to launch the 2010-2011 Federal Internship for Newcomers program
Ottawa, Ontario, October 5, 2010

As delivered

Thank you Corinne and thank you for participating in today’s important announcement, particularly those of you who are involved in this growing and dynamic program that offers new opportunities to young refugees who have settled here in Canada.

So thank you Corinne so much for your introduction but more importantly, for your hard work and leadership in Citizenship and Immigration Canada and across the entire federal government in generating enthusiasm, but more importantly practical engagement in this tremendous program which opens new doors of opportunity for refugee newcomers who have arrived to pursue a new and secure life with us here in Canada, their new country.

Let me say that when I first heard about this program, having become Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism two years ago this month, I was thrilled at that because you know, for too long, I’ve looked at really great enterprises in the private sector, in the civil society trying to open up opportunities for mentorship for newcomers to Canada or large employers and small businesses who have opened their doors, their experience, their practical wisdom to help newcomers more quickly and successfully integrate into the Canadian economy.

But I thought, you know, this is an issue where the federal government really should be leading and I saw that kind of leadership in the nascent Young Newcomers Internship Program at Citizenship and Immigration in Canada, starting three years ago.

It started as a small program, but it had a lot of promise, a lot of potential. And thanks to the talented managers at Citizenship and Immigration Canada, all our partners, and of course, more importantly, the work and efforts of young refugee students, we have had tremendous success.

And that’s why I challenged our department, and more broadly the public service in Canada starting two years ago, to think about how they could follow CIC’s lead working with refugee and immigrant settlement organizations to open the doors of opportunity and integration and professional advancement for newcomers in general and refugees in particular. And that’s why today is really the culmination of a dream for many of us.

This is still a beginning though, it’s not over because while we have expanded this to include several major departments in the Government of Canada, there is still huge vast territory in the broad public service, the agencies, the Crown corporations, other ministries and believe me, I’m going to be knocking on the doors of my colleagues and supporting your efforts, Corinne and the working group, to get more opportunities available for internships and even less formal mentorship programs, which is really the inspiration behind what we’re announcing today.

The challenges many newcomers face are well documented. Many studies show that language barriers, the lack of foreign credential recognition and the lack of Canadian work experience can be critical obstacles to successful integration. Newcomers are key to building a stronger Canada and CIC has been leading by example, as I’ve said, by working to promote the full integration of newcomers into Canadian society by offering them valuable work experience.

Two years ago, CIC created the Young Newcomers Internship Program, one of the many innovative ways that Canada has opened its doors to provide young newcomers with valuable and meaningful experience. They’ve brought to Canada great skills, knowledge and insight to our department, allowing us to benefit from their expertise, unique perspectives and firsthand experiences with the immigration and refugee process. And I’m always very moved when I have a chance to meet with the individuals with whom we work, many of whom spend most, if not all of their lives in refugee camps, who knew very little, very few advantages or no advantages at all, who came to Canada in our program through the good work of World University Services Canada and Canadian Colleges and Universities who worked hard, got their degrees and who are now contributing.

At the same time, Human Resources and Skills Development created a similar program, the Immigration Internship Pilot Project which targeted newcomers who were, in their case, mid-career professionals. Indeed, the importance of programs such as CIC’s YNIP and the Human Resources Department’s Immigrant Internship Pilot Program was highlighted actually in a report of the Standing Committee on Immigration last November. The committee recommended expansion of these two programs to all federal departments and agencies. Now, I think the committee’s recommendation was very wise.

That’s one of the reasons that the Government of Canada is leading by example in its commitment to supporting newcomers as they establish their new lives in Canada. Throughout the spring and summer, the two programs were combined into one, HRSDC and CIC’s program, and expanded to other federal government departments and agencies. And so today, I am pleased to announce the launch of the new Federal Internship for Newcomers Program to help more newcomers gain valuable Canadian work experience, a significant hurdle for many newcomers.

And so that is why today, I am pleased to announce the launch of the new Federal Internship for Newcomers program to help more newcomers gain valuable Canadian work experience, a significant hurdle for many newcomers.

With this expansion, employers across the federal government will benefit from the unique education and skills these interns offer.

To meet the needs of new hiring departments and agencies, we have expanded the types of positions to include not only traditional policy, program and administrative positions, but also categories such as science, finance, translation and communications.

This year, in addition to CIC and HRSDC, several new departments and agencies are taking part in the expanded initiative, including Health Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Canada Economic Development for Québec Regions, Natural Resources Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency. So let’s give all of those ministries a round of applause for their participation. (Applause)

As Corinne has said, these new departments represent a quadrupling of the number of hiring departments from last year’s intake. And this is just the beginning. Over the past year, CIC and HRSDC were able to offer opportunities to a total of 29 interns. So it’s true, it’s still a modest beginning but great things start with modest beginnings. This year, I am very pleased to announce that with the addition of these new agencies, we have more than doubled that number with over 60 participating interns for the fall intake.

In addition to the departments and agencies that are ready to hire this fall, CIC has received expressions of interest from a number of additional departments and agencies. As the new program gains popularity, it is expected that the numbers will only increase as more federal organizations join the program.

Working in partnership with CIC, World University Service of Canada has helped to recruit interns by providing a pool of newcomers who came to Canada via their excellent student refugee program. The expanded program will continue to target interns sponsored through WUSC’s Student Refugee Program. CIC has also partnered with other immigrant serving agencies to include newcomers applying through Local Agencies Serving Immigrants (LASI) World Skills, which is based here in Ottawa and does good work, and Service Intégration Travail Outaouais (SITO), which is based in the Outaouais region and also helps newcomers integrate.

CIC will also explore the establishment of partnerships with other regional immigrant serving organizations this coming year, based on demand. The quality of the interns referred to us from these organizations has really been extraordinary. For example, here with us today is Jean-Marie Uwizeyimana who was referred to us through the WUSC Student Refugee Program.

Jean-Marie lived and worked in a Kenyan refugee camp for many years before arriving to Canada to pursue his studies in Finance and Economics at Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, where he graduated with Honours. He has worked as a finance commissioner at the Algoma University Students’ Union and will now be joining CIC’s Foreign Credentials Referral Office.

Another intern, Ruimin Xu, was referred through LASI World Skills and their Ottawa Job Match Network. Ruimin holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from her native China, where she subsequently worked as an assistant engineer. She also holds a Master’s of Science and Applied Statistics from the University of Guelph. Since she has come to Canada and obtained her Master’s Degree, she’s worked as a volunteer biostatistician at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. We’re pleased that she’ll be joining HRSD in the economics and social sciences field this fall.

Ladies and gentlemen, as Canada becomes increasingly diverse, we must strive to ensure that the Public Service of Canada truly reflects and represents the people that it serves.

Through the federal Internship for Newcomers Program, the Government of Canada is doing just that. The expanded program will continue to offer newcomers valuable work experience within the federal government and facilitate a smoother integration for newcomers into our labour market. This program’s an excellent example of the federal government’s leadership in helping newcomers integrate into the labour market and society by providing them with the opportunity to gain Canadian work experience.

These efforts make it easier for newcomers to contribute to Canadian society sooner and they demonstrate the government’s commitment to diversity and to helping newcomers and their families succeed. This is on top of the government’s tripling of our investment in settlement services for newcomers, the creation of the Foreign Credential Referral Office, the progress that we’ve been making with the provinces on accelerating and streamlining credential recognition and the creation of overseas pre-arrival orientation services to help newcomers begin the process of finding a job and applying for their licensure before they even arrive in Canada.

On behalf of the Government of Canada and everyone involved in the program, I would like to thank Corinne and all the staff in the departments and agencies who have contributed. I would especially like to thank and congratulate the participants, the new Canadians, the refugees, the students and all the organizations for a positive experience that will hopefully lead to a much larger program, which, in the future, will enrich the lives of hundreds of newcomers to Canada by opening economic and social doors of opportunity for them.

So thank you very much to Corinne and everyone in all the ministries and agencies involved, all of the sponsoring organizations and particularly those who chose to come to Canada who have decided to contribute their energy, experience and ideas to the service of the Canadian public and the Canadian taxpayers. 

Thank you very much.