See this interesting Toronto Star article. However, the better question is why there are so many "immigrant settlement agencies" who have over the years managed to develop a sense of entitlement to employ their own groups, and why there are so many immigrants who require assistance and funding when we have hundreds of thousands of applications in the pipeline from people who are ready to work, will not need any assistance, have arranged employment and will begin to contribute immediately upon arrival? There is obviously a disconnect....and no one is wiling to address it..
Dots on a map: Why newcomer funding is taking a hit - thestar.com
Dots on a map: Why newcomer funding is taking a hit
February 24, 2011
Nicholas Keung
In a conference room at Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s Toronto headquarters on St. Clair Ave., Heidi Jurisic lays out a colour-coded map of the city.
The map — a crucial tool in determining where federal settlement dollars go — shows the location of scores of proposals by community groups for the fiscal year starting April 1, each meant in some way to help new immigrants integrate.
Across Ontario, 452 organizations filed 700 proposals this year, including 145 in Toronto, asking for money for everything from language training to job search workshops. The combined price tag: $734 million.
“We had to look at how many proposals we received for various (geographical) areas,” says Jurisic, the immigration department’s director of settlement services in Ontario. “That influenced our decision-making, because it is only a certain amount of available money that we have to fund these projects.”
Only 260 of the 452 groups got the nod. Many organizations that have served newcomers for years are seeing their funding slashed between 5 per cent and 40 per cent. And across the province, 34 groups, 16 of them in Toronto, will lose all of it — 100 per cent.
All told, Toronto is losing $18 million of Ottawa’s subsidy for immigration services, out of $43 million cut across the province.
The cuts prompted left-leaning Toronto councillors to ask that the city send a protest letter to Ottawa, but their motion lost by a single vote earlier this month. NDP immigration critic Olivia Chow has also tabled a non-binding motion through a House standing committee asking that the cuts be reversed.
On Thursday, Ontario Immigration Minister Eric Hoskins also made public the deepening dispute between the province and Ottawa over immigrant settlement priorities in negotiating an expiring immigration agreement. He announced $500,000 in funding to help relieve agencies affected by the cuts.
“We will not accept an unfair agreement that puts newcomers who settle in Ontario at a disadvantage,” Hoskins said.
Jurisic says that, despite the outcry, the cuts are justified because a declining proportion of Canada’s immigrants are settling here.
Between 2005 and 2009, the number landing in Ontario each year fell by 24 per cent, from 140,525 to 106,867. In Toronto, the number dropped 30 per cent, from 67,550 to 47,240. (Though new figures released Sunday show a slight rise last year, to 51,000 in Toronto.)
“The 13 per cent funding reduction (for Toronto) is significantly lower than what the reduction in the number of immigrants has been,” Jurisic says.
The immigration department currently doles out $138 million to 87 newcomer organizations in Toronto. As of April, that will come down to 75.
No one disputes that services should evolve with changing settlement patterns, and agencies agree that better coordination could reduce duplication and boost results. But they’re upset about the lack of consultation by Ottawa on how cuts could be absorbed and how surviving agencies could cooperate to fill gaps.
“These are significant cuts, and our members only got the news before Christmas,” said Debbie Douglas, executive director of the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, an umbrella group of 200 agencies.
“Let’s look at where the cuts are, where the gaps are, their impacts and how we can deal with it,” she added. “The end results could be similar and the same organizations would disappear. But any form of consultation would’ve made the process transparent and given the sector ownership.”
Douglas said allocating funding based on year-to-year immigrant arrivals doesn’t truly reflect the needs. For years, Ontario got the lion’s share of newcomers, but proportionally the least settlement money from Ottawa. Since a five-year immigration agreement was signed (in 2005), the federal government has been playing catch-up, pumping $700 million extra into Ontario.
Ninety per cent of the federal settlement funding goes to language training and settlement/integration programs. The rest goes to the HOST program, which matches newcomers with Canadian volunteers for community orientation.
The new approach brings Ontario into a funding formula based on immigrant arrivals in each province. Nine provinces will each get $3,400 in settlement funding for every new immigrant who makes that province home. In a separate deal, Quebec gets $5,000 for each permanent resident it receives.
“We reduced the total amount of funding (in Ontario) because we haven’t seen a corresponding increase in the uptake of the settlement programs,” Jurisic said.
For the record, Jurisic said usage of federally funded language, integration and settlement programs increased by 31.6 per cent between 2005 and 2009.
“This will in no way diminish the quality and availability of services for newcomers,” she said. “At the end of the day, what we want to do is to ensure value for taxpayers’ money.”
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney told the Star that he won’t delay or reverse the cuts to Ontario because he has faith in his staff’s judgment.
“More money is not necessarily the solution,” he said. “Better coordination is.”
Showing posts with label Canada immigration settlement organizations funding cuts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canada immigration settlement organizations funding cuts. Show all posts
Friday, February 25, 2011
Saturday, January 8, 2011
IMMIGRANT SETTLEMENT ORGANIZATIONS IN TURMOIL
The organization profied in the article is now in the spotlight as reported below, but others also lost funding, for a variety of reasons. The Federal government spends several billion dollars in immigrant settlement every year, much of it is distributed through community organizations with a varying degree of expertise, some with strong political ties. This is an inefficient system of delivery of services. The government should find ways to save the cash and concentrate on better quality of services in a technologically savvy manner. The problem also spotlights how much money settlement of those who do not speak any official languages, have no relevant education to the labour force and few marketable skills really costs, and should give us pause to consider the type of immigration and skills the economy requires to grow and fill vacant jobs.
TheSpec - SISO closes its doors again
Nicole MacIntyre
Fri Jan 7
SISO closes its doors again
The federal government is diverting refugees away from Hamilton after the city's embattled settlement organization laid off all its staff for a second time and closed its doors.
Hamilton's Settlement Integration Services Organization (SISO) is scrambling to resolve a funding dispute with Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), which is taking immediate steps to ensure newcomers are taken care of by other agencies.
“This is a most unfortunate situation,” said CIC spokesperson Tracie LeBlanc. “Minimizing the impact on settlement service delivery as a result of SISO's reductions is our utmost priority at this time.”
SISO was forced to shut down Friday when the bank refused to extend its line of credit after the organization fell behind in its government funding claims. There wasn't enough money available to pay about 55 employees for the last two weeks.
Interim executive director Sandra Mlekuz notified employees on Thursday afternoon about the temporary layoffs, which took effect immediately. This is the second time employees have been laid off since October.
In a release last night, a group of former and current employees said they were “thoroughly disgusted, disillusioned and disappointed” in the board's handling of the situation. It has left many employees in a difficult position financially, they noted.
“The board needs to be held accountable for this crisis,” the employees' release stated, adding SISO's board must stop putting the blame on its funders.
SISO has been in turmoil since losing millions in government funding over concerns of financial irregularities. Its former executive director was charged with uttering death threats against staff and there is an ongoing investigation by Hamilton police and the RCMP into allegations of fraud against the government.
SISO is also months behind filing expense claims to CIC. Its September claim, which was due Oct. 10, was not received until Dec. 17, “despite repeated followup requests,” said LeBlanc. The ministry identified several discrepancies in the claim that must be clarified before SISO will receive its payment.
Without the estimated $400,000 payout, SISO has no more credit available to pay its bills, said SISO board chairperson Hussein Hamdani.
“You can only survive for so long on your savings,” he said, noting the payment covers services that were already rendered. “We've paid out … we just can't continue.”
While SISO is hopeful the matter will be resolved within a couple of weeks and staff can be recalled, CIC is already making arrangements for other agencies to pick up the organization's clients. LeBlanc said the government is working with 16 other service providers in the Hamilton area to increase their “capacity, staff and complement of settlement programs.”
She said the department's Matching Centre, which determines where refugees are placed, will divert newcomers away from Hamilton unless they have family here to live with. Refugees will be sent to other reception centres in Kitchener, Toronto, London, Windsor and Ottawa. LeBlanc said refugees will be redirected for the month of February and likely March and it could continue until June.
Hamdani characterized CIC's response as “a little premature at this point.”
Roughly 20 refugees are directed to SISO monthly, according to Mlekuz. The organization is waiting to see if its New Dawn Centre, which provides programming for refugees, will be renewed for funding in the spring. It is the only remaining federal program at SISO.
Mlekuz said she's meeting with SISO's remaining managers to see what services they can still offer during the shut down. The board agreed to maintain a skeleton staff to try to get the centre running again.
The first priority will be meeting CIC's request for additional information around the funding claims, said Mlekuz, who was hired last month. The filings were late because of the upheaval at the organization, she said.
Hamdani also pointed to the holidays as part of the problem. “It's just unfortunate timing.”
However, staff in their release questioned why the board didn't deal with the financial situation before it got to this point, arguing they “had ample time to get their ducks in a row.”
CIC says the discrepancies in the September funding claims “pertain to the hourly rates of a significant number of CIC-funded positions, both in management and on the front lines.”
Hamdani said Scotiabank told SISO it could only extend its credit line if CIC would provide a firm timeline when funding would be coming. But CIC “does not arrange for financing for service provider organizations,” said LeBlanc.
She added SISO did not notify CIC of the layoffs or closure. The department learned of the situation from the Spectator and LeBlanc said they took immediate steps to limit service disruptions.
TheSpec - SISO closes its doors again
Nicole MacIntyre
Fri Jan 7
SISO closes its doors again
The federal government is diverting refugees away from Hamilton after the city's embattled settlement organization laid off all its staff for a second time and closed its doors.
Hamilton's Settlement Integration Services Organization (SISO) is scrambling to resolve a funding dispute with Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), which is taking immediate steps to ensure newcomers are taken care of by other agencies.
“This is a most unfortunate situation,” said CIC spokesperson Tracie LeBlanc. “Minimizing the impact on settlement service delivery as a result of SISO's reductions is our utmost priority at this time.”
SISO was forced to shut down Friday when the bank refused to extend its line of credit after the organization fell behind in its government funding claims. There wasn't enough money available to pay about 55 employees for the last two weeks.
Interim executive director Sandra Mlekuz notified employees on Thursday afternoon about the temporary layoffs, which took effect immediately. This is the second time employees have been laid off since October.
In a release last night, a group of former and current employees said they were “thoroughly disgusted, disillusioned and disappointed” in the board's handling of the situation. It has left many employees in a difficult position financially, they noted.
“The board needs to be held accountable for this crisis,” the employees' release stated, adding SISO's board must stop putting the blame on its funders.
SISO has been in turmoil since losing millions in government funding over concerns of financial irregularities. Its former executive director was charged with uttering death threats against staff and there is an ongoing investigation by Hamilton police and the RCMP into allegations of fraud against the government.
SISO is also months behind filing expense claims to CIC. Its September claim, which was due Oct. 10, was not received until Dec. 17, “despite repeated followup requests,” said LeBlanc. The ministry identified several discrepancies in the claim that must be clarified before SISO will receive its payment.
Without the estimated $400,000 payout, SISO has no more credit available to pay its bills, said SISO board chairperson Hussein Hamdani.
“You can only survive for so long on your savings,” he said, noting the payment covers services that were already rendered. “We've paid out … we just can't continue.”
While SISO is hopeful the matter will be resolved within a couple of weeks and staff can be recalled, CIC is already making arrangements for other agencies to pick up the organization's clients. LeBlanc said the government is working with 16 other service providers in the Hamilton area to increase their “capacity, staff and complement of settlement programs.”
She said the department's Matching Centre, which determines where refugees are placed, will divert newcomers away from Hamilton unless they have family here to live with. Refugees will be sent to other reception centres in Kitchener, Toronto, London, Windsor and Ottawa. LeBlanc said refugees will be redirected for the month of February and likely March and it could continue until June.
Hamdani characterized CIC's response as “a little premature at this point.”
Roughly 20 refugees are directed to SISO monthly, according to Mlekuz. The organization is waiting to see if its New Dawn Centre, which provides programming for refugees, will be renewed for funding in the spring. It is the only remaining federal program at SISO.
Mlekuz said she's meeting with SISO's remaining managers to see what services they can still offer during the shut down. The board agreed to maintain a skeleton staff to try to get the centre running again.
The first priority will be meeting CIC's request for additional information around the funding claims, said Mlekuz, who was hired last month. The filings were late because of the upheaval at the organization, she said.
Hamdani also pointed to the holidays as part of the problem. “It's just unfortunate timing.”
However, staff in their release questioned why the board didn't deal with the financial situation before it got to this point, arguing they “had ample time to get their ducks in a row.”
CIC says the discrepancies in the September funding claims “pertain to the hourly rates of a significant number of CIC-funded positions, both in management and on the front lines.”
Hamdani said Scotiabank told SISO it could only extend its credit line if CIC would provide a firm timeline when funding would be coming. But CIC “does not arrange for financing for service provider organizations,” said LeBlanc.
She added SISO did not notify CIC of the layoffs or closure. The department learned of the situation from the Spectator and LeBlanc said they took immediate steps to limit service disruptions.
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