Women Are the Focus of the IRCC's Pilot Scheme

Updated: Dec 29, 2018 | Tags: Canada Visa, Canada eTA, Canadian Refugee

Introduction

The many barriers that newcomer women from the visible minority may face in Canada’s job market are now being addressed in a new pilot scheme. This really shows the Canadian government is fully committed to ensuring that newcomer women are sufficiently supported and receive the help they need. As a result, individuals will be able to use their experience and particular talents to fully integrate into their communities and contribute to the workforce within the Canadian economy.

Many barriers to overcome

Women who are newcomers and belong to obvious minority groups can be faced with many hurdles to success. These include discrimination due to their gender and race, employment uncertainly and low wages, not to mention difficulties with finding and affording childcare and accessing social support.

The IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) recognizes these challenges and is injecting additional funds (as much as $5 million) to assist 10 organizations across Canada that already provide services to disadvantaged groups. Funding will be distributed over a three-year pilot scheme.

Some of the organizations that will benefit

One organisation that will benefit is the Conseil économique du Nouveau-Brunswick inc., which provides services connected to employment. With considerable past success, this organization will be receiving funds of $270,000 to invest in areas that focus on newcomer visible minority women.

Another beneficiary organisation is the Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers (EMCN), which has considerable experience and abilities in helping newcomers. The EMCN is connected to other similar bodies in Edmonton, forming partnerships to assist immigrant women. There will be a particular focus on developing employment-related skills. Events that the EMCN helps to run include training group sessions and job fairs. Receiving as much as $310,000 will help the EMCN to assist more newcomer women from minority groups within the region.

Also benefitting from funding is the Rexdale Women's Centre, a support agency for newcomer women, helping individuals to integrate into their communities. This body supports newcomer women when it comes to settling in and builds on their well-being and sense of belonging. It also assists with jobs market participation. Serving all newcomers, many of the people they help are newcomer women, including those from visible minorities. Like the EMCN, this organization is also receiving $310,000 to invest in support for newcomer women from disadvantaged backgrounds.

More on the IRCC's three-year pilot scheme

The IRCC will be identifying service providers like those mentioned above to offer strong programs for women. By supporting such organizations with extra funding, the IRCC hopes to provide more official support and an increased capacity to help visible minority newcomer women.

This funding announcement is part of the three-year IRCC Visible Minority Newcomer Women Pilot scheme within the Canada immigration program. The pilot scheme will set up partnerships and include new organizations for women that do not currently receive any funding. During the next three years, the IRCC will be backing various groups, with a total of $7 million in funding for innovative new services and programs that will offer support. Interested partners are asked to read through the Funding Guidelines and send in their letter of interest by early in 2019.

Facts and figures that support the pilot scheme

The IRCC's financial assistance is much needed. Visible minority newcomer women have very low average incomes. This group averages around $26,000 per annum in earnings. However, non-visible minority newcomer women earn an average of about $30,000 per annum. In terms of men, visible minority newcomer men earn approx. $35,000 per annum and men from the non-visible minority earn $42,000 per annum on average.

It is far more likely that visible minority newcomer women will not have a job. With an unemployment rate of 9.7%, this is above the rates for newcomer men, who average 8.5% in terms of the visible minority and 6.4% for the non-visible minority. These figures relate to a census carried out in 2016.

The Canadian government is proud of their work

The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Admed Hussen, has affirmed that employment plays a vital role in successfully integrating newcomers as part of Canada immigration. Being part of the working community has a broader meaning than making an economic contribution to the country and helps to establish feelings of belonging and dignity. There are many hurdles that newcomer women who are part of the visible minority will face. The government is proud of its pilot scheme. This will provide direct support and services to help newcomer women get jobs and progress in their lives.

In the meantime, all other Canada immigration services continue to run smoothly in the background, including the Canada visa and Canada ETA processes. The Canada visa and Canada ETA schemes have their own allocation of government funding, helping individuals from various international locations to visit Canada.