Posted: Thursday, 17 February 2011

On February 17, 2011, fifteen members of the CLC Human Rights Committee attended one of the Standing Committees of Parliament when Minister Jason Kenney attempted to defend his government cuts to immigration and settlement agencies.

When committee members learned the government was gutting $53 million dollars from agencies across the country that provide invaluable integration services to newcomers, they decided it was important to attend the committee and call for the government to rewind the cuts. The cuts will have a devastating impact. $43 million or 81% of the total cut targeted Ontario, while $18M of the cut was applied to agencies based in Toronto – a major destination of many newcomers.

According to Citizenship and Immigration’s own data, Ontario is host to 42% of Canada’s permanent residents and the province alone accounted for about 11% of the total national increase in permanent residents. Meanwhile, the rest of the country combined accounted for the same percentage increase in 2009-2010.

Minister Kenney claimed these agencies failed to meet the priorities of the governments, but was unclear on what exactly the government’s priorities are regarding newcomer integration. Members learned the Minister’s vague rationale contradicted other equally dubious reasons the federal government has put forward to justify this cut.

Labour activists are keenly aware and supportive of the many positive contributions newcomers make to the workforce and communities across the country. “It makes little sense to gut services that help newcomers gain access to the labour market and set down roots, especially when our country needs immigrants to build our nation, to grow our population and our labour force,” remarked National Director of the CLC Anti-Racism and Human Rights Department, Karl Flecker.

Members are also troubled this reckless decision will result in an estimated 78,000 newcomers losing access to immigration and settlement workers; and roughly, 1,000 staff will lose their jobs.

A call out to rewind the cuts has been launched on Facebook (www.facebook.com/rewindthecuts) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/rewindthecuts) and activists are encouraged to check out these sites and show their support for immigration and settlement agencies.