Making Ontario Home: settlement and integration services
Hi, I’m Debbie Douglas, executive director
of OCASI – the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, and we
recently released a study called Making Ontario Home, the first study of its kind to ask immigrants and refugees about their use of
and satisfaction with settlement and integration services. The goal is to use
the information to ensure that immigrants and refugees are getting the right
types of services at the right place and the right time. The study was funded
by the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration. Over 2,500 newcomers from
across Ontario answered a detailed survey about their settlement service use,
and they had some interesting things to tell us!
The
survey asked about service use in three areas: employment services, language
services and general settlement services (like counselling or information and
referrals). More than 83% of respondents said they had used one or more
settlement support services. Specifically:
•
54.7% reported using language training programs and services;
•
50% used employment and skills training programs and services;
•
38.4% used general settlement and integration services.
Respondents
had a high degree of satisfaction with all three service areas, but
satisfaction with employment services was lowest. We think this lower
satisfaction has a lot to do with the fact that many newcomers have a hard time
finding adequate jobs that correspond to their skill and educational level
because of factors such as economic conditions, an insistence on “Canadian
experience,” and discrimination. These are factors that neither immigrants nor
service agencies can address on their own. This reminds us that successful
settlement and integration is a collective effort, where governments, service
agencies, private enterprise, the public and individual immigrants all have
important roles to play.
Another
interesting finding was that the level of education didn’t affect the
likelihood of accessing settlement and integration services. That is, someone
with a Master’s degree was just as likely to use language training services as
someone with a high school education. What was
different was the specific services used as well as when they were used
(eg. in the first year of settlement or later). This reminds us that everyone
needs access to services, but that we also have to understand and provide for
the unique needs of different groups.
Of
the people who said that they had never used any settlement and integration
services, the main reason was because they didn’t know these services existed,
with over 30% reporting this problem. This is why it’s so important that we
continue to think about how to make settlement and integration services
accessible, for example by investing in promotion and outreach as well as
continuing to locate services in schools and public libraries. The public
library is one of the most important locations for access to language conversation
groups.
These
are only a few of the findings from the Making Ontario Home study. You can find
more information, including a short executive summary, at www.ocasi.org/moh
.
Join the
Conversation!
Toronto Public Library is developing the Strategic Plan 2012-2015 to help achieve its draft
vision:
Toronto Public Library will be recognized as the
world’s leading public library, helping make Torontonians smarter, successful
and resilient, through excellent and responsive service.
Your feedback is invaluable. Help the library
develop this plan for residents of Toronto.
Please have your say by telling us:
1. How has the library helped you with
settlement services?
2. How can'the library better serve you?
6 thoughts on “Making Ontario Home: settlement and integration services”
In my opinion, all these services are a waste of tax payer’s dollars. When my paren’ts immigrated here, they didn’t expect canadians to foot the bill for language education or employment services. They came by choice and they worked hard and waited until the right employment opportunity came along. They were self-employed when they had to. As far as “canadian experience” goes, it is different than experience elsewhere. Cultural differences can make a huge impact on how competent an individual is. Working in health care, I have seen many poor decisions made by new immigrants who should have learned about our culture and how it impacts patient care. This is common sense, not discrimination. I’ve lived abroad myself and noone gave me handouts so why are we so eager to put immigrants ahead of ourselves?
What would Toronto be without its libraries? Libraries function like hubs. They are the heart of the city and communities. They are a site for resource and information gathering, socializing, solace from the noise, elements and entropy of the city, networking and reflection. Libraries and library staff have been instrumental in helping newcomers. They function as drop-in service providers too. The role of library staff is obviously more nuanced in that they become the new friendly face one gets to know beyond the books, screens and magazines. They are invaluable to people who are marginalized. You just have to walk into a library to see how invaluable they are. As a child, they were a haven for my curious mind. I devoured books and library staff were there to help me with assignments and direct me to materials that I had not discovered. They also taught me invaluable skills to do research and find information that was important to my own career development, health and well-being. These skills have been able to help me with newcomer clients and I have collaborated many times with library staff to assist me with finding and supporting clients with mental health issues. They have helped me access appropriate literacy materials to teach English Language Learners, people with dis/abilities and elementary students and they have served me well in accessing community resources and services that I or clients were not aware existed. Many newcomers need services to help them access health care, social, financial, housing and community legal services and other matters. The information boards and displays have also been helpful. I have also enjoyed attending community events, listening to writers and watching films at libraries. I think it would be beneficial to coordinate libraries as sites for agency workers, schools and health providers (CHC’s) to provide educational subject oriented talks to community members. I think even having the few remaining outreach workers present would also better help serve newcomer clients in identifying vocational training, internship and volunteer opportunities, education and career fairs, employment support staff, local and specific health and service providers, agencies and grass-roots supports. Finding ways to use social media to support children and youth in helping their caregivers (and themselves) access supports is also good. If it isn’t already being done, it might be helpful to get school administrators and teachers aware of how to connect students and their families to resources that support newcomer transition and specific settlement issues with the help of the local library. Multilingual resources and volunteers representing local immigrant communities at the library would also be helpful. Agencies and library staff can support the training of these valuable volunteers.
Toronto Public Libraries are really helpful for my family. I got the reference to the nearest settlement office and then found my family doctor.
Hi from the library. Thanks for your contribution to our Strategic Plan blog.
If you haven’t already, and you can’take a few minutes to fill out our Strategic Plan survey, we’d appreciate your input. The survey is here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TPL_2012-2015_Strategic_Plan
Hi from the library, thanks for sharing your experiences with the library and putting a personal perspective on things this way… and for your very thoughtful suggestions for bettering our services.
If you haven’t filled out our Strategic Plan survey and could take a few minutes to do that, we’d appreciate it. The survey is here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TPL_2012-2015_Strategic_Plan
nice… thanks very much for sharing this.
If you haven’t filled out our Strategic Plan survey and could take a moment to do so, that would be great. Here’s the link to the survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TPL_2012-2015_Strategic_Plan