Thank you for this opportunity to make the presentation today.
Community Action Resource Centre is a grassroots community-based organization in the west end of Toronto.
We were informed through a form letter just before Christmas that our federal settlement funding would end 100% on March 31. This brief was prepared with input from several other organizations, all of whom received the same form letter. These organizations include the Afghan Association of Ontario, the African Training and Employment Centre, the Bloor Information and Life Skills Centre, the Eritrean Canadian Community Centre, the Ethiopian Association, and the South Asian Women's Centre.
I would like to first say that it's disappointing that so many ethno-specific agencies who serve diverse cultures, and who have been severely impacted by this unfair decision, have not been given the opportunity to speak to the standing committee this week. They feel that their voices have been silenced. Nonetheless, we collectively appreciate this opportunity to tell you what is happening to us and its impact on our communities.
This decision by CIC will impact ethno-specific agencies particularly hard. It is inherently unfair for an immigration ministry to have systemic practices that destroy the newcomer communities that they are supposedly welcoming into our country.
A prime example is that of the Afghan Association. The federal government recently brought to the safety of Canada 1,500 Afghan immigrants who had acted as interpreters in Kandahar. Now the same ministry is de-funding the agency that is providing socio-cultural adjustments and other supports to these newcomers. This agency will also be left with several years of leased premises that must be paid, a debt of more than $300,000. This community can never recover from this level of debt. It is inconceivable that our government can think that this is justifiable.
According to Statistics Canada, there is still an increase in the number of immigrants who choose to call Ontario home, about a 23% increase. Our settlement staff help newcomers apply for health cards, PR cards, or other government documents. They help them get their children into school. They help them find housing, English classes, and trauma counselling. They help them get their documents translated. They help with issues of discrimination or around employment matters.
For some newcomers, the staff are the closest they have to a family member or a friend in their new country, reducing isolation and reducing the reliance on expensive health and mental health services. Our staff are not sitting around doing nothing, as if all of the issues for newcomers in Toronto are taken care of or are improving. In fact, we all know that is not the case.
The January 2011 update of the Toronto immigrant data employment initiative reports that, overall, immigrants lost 300 jobs, while Canadian-born gained 90,400 jobs. There were large job losses, 62,700 job losses, for immigrants in professional, scientific, and technical services; health care and social assistance; and the public administration sector.
From some of the statistics being used in the media, it would appear that temporary farm worker landings are included, which shifts the percentages. This class has almost doubled since 2003. The majority of these are in Alberta. There are many documented instances of abuse in the creation of a subclass of immigrant worker; on the one hand is the substantial loss in the number of immigrants gaining professional jobs, and on the other is the creation of this temporary subclass. Another type of immigrant, in the economic or provincial nominee program, does not require the same level and type of settlement services as the newcomer who comes from an area of conflict, war, or deep poverty.
There are so many issues at play. It is a complex set of circumstances. One would think that all of these factors and facets, and more, would be carefully considered before randomly implementing massive cuts such as these.
These are people's lives. We can't just play around with statistics. People are not numbers.
We, as agencies on the ground, know what we are seeing and dealing with every day, and we're saying that CIC is wrong in this case. The impacts of this decision, if allowed to stand, will be too great on Ontario, and in particular on Toronto.
Thank you.