County of Simcoe Social and Community Services Children & Community Services Department 1110 Highway 26, Midhurst, Ontario L0L 1X0 Main Line (705) 722-3132 Toll Free 1-866-893-9300 Fax (705) 725-9539 simcoe.ca MEETING DATE: 1/18/2016 M I N U T E S MEETING TIME: ATTENDANCE: 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Simcoe County Museum E. Albisser (IRCC); D. Brown (Social Enterprise for Canada); C. Clark (COS- Emergency Management); C. Colcy (Barrie Community Health Centre); B. Daley (Barrie Police); J. Dionne (MCITT/MTCS); L. Doonan (Central Region Headquarters OPP); A. Fletcher (South Simcoe Police); C. Fletcher (SCDSB); E. Garcia (Enrique N. Garcia Translations): S. Graham for L.S. Doonan (General Headquarters OPP); R. Griffiths (LIP secretary of record); G. Hall (COS-Library Co-operative); W. Hembruff (COS-Ontario Works); R. Holt (LIP); C. Ingas (SMCDSB); M. Kuzma (Nottawasaga Futures); D. Lainez (El Remanete Fiel Faithful Remnant Church); S. Lee (LIP); J. Lefebvre (La Clé); T. McAlmont (County of Simcoe); J. McGee (YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka); L. Palson (Georgian College); L. Reid (Collingwood Public Library for G.Hall); S. Roy (Conseil Scolaire Viamonde); G. Wauchope (County of Simcoe-Mayor of Innisfil); D. West (Lakehead University); P. Whittington (Georgain College); L. Woodrow (Career Centre-SCDSB) Regrets: T. Christman (NSM LHIN); S. Cole (Simcoue County Coaltion); J. Ellis (Gateway Centre for Learning);B. Lamba (United Way); S. Laycock (SMWFDB); S.A. Maxwell (Family TLC); M. Poisson (MTCU); B. Shoreman (SMCDSB); R. Sullivan (County of Simcoe EDO); C. Vanderkruys (Barrie Public Libarary); E. White (My Broadcasting Corporation) Absent: E. Cudanin (FilCan Barrie); E. Jara (Credit Canada Debt Solultions); N. Nijjar (Canadian Mental Health Association); I. Pavlik (pavliks.com); L. Wild (City of Barrie) SUBJECT: Local Immigration Partnership Council 1. Welcome / Introductions A. Fletcher welcomed the group. Round table introductions where made. G. Waucoupe asked the group if they would be interested in hosting future meetings. The next meeting will be held at Innisfil Town Hall. Group was asked to please be aware of changing locations when meeting reviewing invites. 2. Approval of Minutes of Meeting November 16, 2015 Motion -THAT the minutes of the Partnership Council meeting held on November 16th, 2015 to be confirmed and adopted, as circulated. Motion: J. Ellis; Second: S. Roy. All in favour. MOTION CARRIED SCS-CS-011-C01 PAGE 1 OF 4
3. Updates: IRCC & MCIIT J. Dionne (MCIIT) Shared information on new grants available. Please contact her for more information or if there are any questions. She will email the group of grants that are open. E. Albisser Informed the group that at this time 16,353 Syrian refugees have arrived in Canada representing both Private Sponsored Refugees (PSR) and Government Assisted Refugees (GAR) Newmarket Welcome Centre has a new contract with IRCC for translation services that are able to serve Simcoe County. D. Brown will share the information for all council members. Current contracts will not be renegotiated at this time. IRCC will be extending contracts, as they stand, for one year. E. Albisser asked the group what the needs in Simcoe County currently are and what can IRCC do to support? 4. County of Simcoe LIP Management Report MIIO funding Refugee Update December January 2016 ManagementRe T. McAlmont Updated the group about the Local Poverty Funding agreement. The agreement was just received and requires County Council s approval after which time there will be a posting for a coordinator. The project is a 3 year project with 18 months of primary activity and a strong 3 rd party evaluation component. 5. Sub-Councils / Working Groups Updates Settlement Sub-Council Economic Integration Sub-Council Cultural Competency Newcomer Recognition Awards R. Holt provided the attached up date. Sub-Council Activities Report.pdf 6. Community Updates on Syrian Refugees Cathy Clark County of Simcoe, Emergency Services, Shared with the group there are about 18,000 refugees nationally to arrive before the end of February. Federal government national co-ordination cell handles all the logistical aspects including; screening overseas and arranging flights. The majority of refugees are arriving on government flights at two airports, Toronto & Montreal. Ontario has agreed to receive 10000 refugees. There are 6 settlement reception centers in Ontario: Toronto, Ottawa, London, Windsor, Waterloo, and Mississauga. Provincially there are several committees to oversee the provincial planning; cabinet office is coordinating meetings once a week. Language training is also a challenge as many refugees speak Arabic, however there are two different SOS-CS-011-C01 PAGE 2 OF 4
dialects of Kurdish. There has been some challenges with literacy. Full health screen is completed before they arrive. Immunization and dental issues are also becoming apparent. There are less than 30 private sponsor groups in Simcoe County at this time. The family group that have been arriving consists of both parents, often with large numbers of children. IRCC website has excellent information. Military bases will only be used if the refugees welcome centers exceed capacity. They will be only used to temporarily house incoming families. Children will not attend school. Canadian Red Cross will oversee all services that are required. There is a plan specifically for infectious disease clinics to be on site, staffed by nurse practitioners. Issues of interpretation are noted as a concern. There will be interpreters on site while the clinic is open. Discussion of how to translate basic over the counter medications (i.e. Tylenol)? Should the bases be required there will be only 72 hours of notice given, which is why pre-planning is of upmost importance. Families would only be housed at the bases for 2 weeks. S. Roy asked if there would be francophone interpretation as well. Group discussion around the need to use the services of certified translators. Christine Ignas SMCSB St. Mary s Church This particular group is supporting 2 families. They are not Syrian and their anticipated arrival is sometime in March. There is a Syrian refugee that arrived here 20 years ago who will help the newcomers understand the country. She indicated that because Sponsorship Agreement Holders (SAH) are often in large cities but arrive In Simcoe County there is some discrepancy of numbers. She indicated that in their school system there is a family who is listed as arriving in Montreal but they are living and attending school in Simcoe County. S. Lee asked D. Brown to send the LIP flyers /information of translation services to post on corporate web site. 7. Q & A J. McGee asked if interpretation services are available in Muskoka as well. D. Brown indicated that the Welcome Centre s hours are 8:30-4:30 and phone in interpretation is available then, however if the need arises times could be extended. On demand is always available during business hours. C. Clark if there is any emergency need she can be contacted to assist. A. Fletcher cautioned the group that there is an abundance of mis-information in the public and asked the group to be certain information shared is accurate. L. Palson indicated that none of the GARs will be staying in Simcoe County. 8. Immigrant Populations S. Lee shared the attached presentation. Partnership Council Transition Deck.pdf 9. Activity Themes R. Holt introduced the activity to the group. SOS-CS-011-C01 PAGE 3 OF 4
10. Other Business E. Albisser has changed name to IRCC P. Whittington Georgian has scholarships available to refugees, please contact her if you would like additional information. A. Fletcher Waterloo Community Hub learning event taking January 29 th. He will send out the information to the group. 11. Next Meeting: March 21 st 2016, 9:30 am to 11:30 am Simcoe County Museum SOS-CS-011-C01 PAGE 4 OF 4
County of Simcoe Social and Community Services Children & Community Services Department 1110 Highway 26, Midhurst, Ontario L0L 1X0 Main Line (705) 722-3132 Toll Free 1-866-893-9300 Fax (705) 725-9539 simcoe.ca SIMCOE COUNTY LOCAL IMMIGRATION PARTNERSHIP COUNCIL Community Engagement MANAGEMENT REPORT DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 Activity Number Meetings with Community Stakeholders 6 Meetings with Local Businesses 0 Community Networking Meetings 5 Intra Provincial Meetings 6 Training 2 Media Coverage 7 Presentations to Community 1 Scheduled Presentations 1 Scheduled Meetings 6 Scheduled Training/Conferences 0 Scheduled Media Coverage 0 December and January have been very busy, fueled in part by growing interest in the arrival of Syrian refugees. The LIP has been collecting information at a local level to share with municipal, provincial, and federal governments. Municipally, the LIP has been working collaboratively with Emergency Management Services to collect and disseminate information. A collection of resources for sponsoring groups has been established on the corporate web page. LIP staff attended the Pathways to Prosperity Conference, and this provided an excellent opportunity to connect. A national LIP meeting was facilitated prior to the beginning of the conference. Local Poverty Reduction Fund The County learned that the province will be administering this project through the Ontario Trillium Foundation. The final agreement will be presented to County Council in February, and the recruitment for a project coordinator will begin after approval is received. Health Force Ontario Secretariat engaged in dialogue with Health Force Ontario about potential workshops for employment and health employers. Health Force Ontario has confirmed that they will be able to provide two workshops, one for employers and one for service providers on regulated health care occupations. The secretariat suggests including these as awareness raising activities for the 2016/2017 community plan. SCS-CS-003-C01
MIIO Funding Application Ministry of Citizenship, Immigration and International Trade (MCIIT) contacted the County early in 2016 and advised that the MIIO application that was submitted to increase the attraction and retention of international students was approved. This project will add content to the immigration website and support welcoming events for international students. Syrian Refugee Sponsorship/Connections In addition to the sponsorship fact sheet released in 2015, the County has enhanced the corporate web pages to include a section dedicated to information and resources that may be valuable to community groups sponsoring Syrian refugee families. The secretariat is now participating on provincial cabinet calls, and OMSSA teleconferences. IRCC has requested information on local community needs, both through a proposal to our project officer, and through a teleconference in January. MCIIT Projects (Entrepreneurship and Library Link) The Immigrant Entrepreneur pilot project was finished at the end of November 2015. This project connected with 38 immigrants, and provided feedback on further revisions to the Business section of the immigration website. The County received permission from the province to release an announcement to media about the Library Link project. This created interested from local media, and 3 radio interviews took place in January. Local newspapers also carried the story. Funders Network Meeting Further meetings have been postponed due to competing work priorities.
LOCAL IMMIGRATION PARTNERSHIP ACTIVITY UPDATES: January 18, 2016 SUB-COUNCILS Settlement Sub-Council: During the reporting period, the sub-council met once on November 26. Members spent time de-briefing the 3 rd annual Newcomer Recognition Awards, which included a discussion on increased nominations for 2016. The group also spent time discussing a public education campaign to address racism and discrimination and how to measure the impact of the pilot outreach mission in Alliston. The group spent a considerable amount of time discussing the situation in Syria and subsequent involvement with private and government sponsorships in Simcoe County. Many sub-council partners have been receiving inquiries and directing groups to available community resources. Economic Integration Sub-Council: During the reporting period, the sub-council met once on January 12. The group spent the bulk of the meeting discussing the upcoming 10-day training that will be included as part of the poverty reduction fund project. Sub-council members reviewed the library link training model and were asked to discuss how this training would be divided between various EO staffing levels. Members also were asked to discuss which topics would be most applicable. Further discussion on this topic will take place at the next meeting in February. The group also received a final overview of the Entrepreneurship project and discussed supportive roles, if any, with any refugee sponsorship groups. Reference to the available resources on the Simcoe.ca website was highlighted. WORKING GROUPS Simcoe County Newcomer Recognition Awards (SCNRA): During the reporting period no meetings were scheduled. A meeting will be scheduled in early 2016. Cultural Competency: During the reporting period, the working group met once on January 14. The group welcomed several new members from the Partnership Council, Barrie Community Health Centre, Georgian College, and the YMCA. A brief discussion surrounding, what is cultural competency? took place and the majority of the meeting time was spent engaged in a stepladder brainstorm activity. Three teams developed a collective pitch towards the development of a public education strategy that will begin to address racism and discrimination in Simcoe County. The group plans were varied and diverse and exploration of these ideas will be the focus in the next meeting. Page 1 of 1
Partnership Council: January 18, 2016 Children & Community Services Department
Context: Syrian Refugee Immigration National commitment to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees by March 31, 2016 Provincial commitment to resettle 10,000 in Ontario Provincial and territorial commitments exceed 25,000 Simcoe County numbers are in flux dependent on local fundraising and local sponsoring groups (some known, some unknown) 20 plus identified sponsoring groups (optimistic 35 families) 35 x 6 = 210 new residents
Recent Immigration Patterns: National Category 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Family class 63,374 70,515 66,239 65,584 65,208 60,225 56,453 65,012 81,843 66,659 Economic immigrants 156,312 138,252 131,244 149,066 153,489 186,915 156,114 160,792 148,154 165,088 Refugees 35,774 32,499 27,954 21,859 22,849 24,697 27,873 23,079 23,831 23,286 Other immigrants 6,779 10,371 11,312 10,730 10,622 8,842 8,301 9,014 5,194 5,367 Category not stated 2 2 1 2 1 7 3 5 0 1 Gender not stated 1 1 3 3 1 1 3 1 1 3 Total by Category 262,242 251,640 236,753 247,244 252,170 280,687 248,747 257,903 259,023 260,404
Recent Immigration Patterns: Provincial Category 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Family class 35,034 38,351 35,540 33,807 33,136 29,343 27,374 31,973 40,380 30,657 Economic immigrants 79,559 62,616 53,685 59,117 54,831 69,497 51,404 49,172 47,605 50,888 Refugees 21,892 18,704 15,516 11,858 12,653 13,914 15,921 12,592 12,697 11,468 Other immigrants 4,038 6,218 6,575 6,093 6,237 5,352 4,758 5,411 2,870 2,801 Category not stated 2 2 0 1 1 4 3 5 0 0 Total Ontario 140,525 125,891 111,316 110,876 106,858 118,110 99,460 99,153 103,552 95,814
Recent Immigration Patterns: Simcoe County
Intraprovincial Migration: Population Driver Source: Data from Rural Ontario Institute. Focus on Rural Ontario. September 2014, http://www.ruralontarioinstitute.ca/. Accessed August 18, 2015