Agenda LMLIP Employment Sub-Council Date and Time: January 18, 2017 1:00 3:00 pm Meeting Location: Councilors Lounge, Middlesex County Building, 399 Ridout St. N Item Description 1. Welcome and Introductions 2. Approval of November 16, 2016 Minutes 3. Additions to Agenda 4. Annual Implementation Plan 2016-2017 - Updates - Wilma de Rond a. Session with the Small Business Centre: Ayshin Mousavi/Pauline Andrew/Kim Godin i. Action Item: Session in 2016-2017- Update b. Recognition Event for Employers Continue discussion on the criteria of nomination - Wilma de Rond c. I am London Social Campaign Information Sharing Maria D Souza d. Immigration Fact Sheet Michael Haan will be attending Wilma de Rond e. Identify gaps in knowledge related to coordination and collaboration Wilma de Rond /Huda Hussein 5. Updates from community initiatives: Wilma de Rond a. Local Employment Planning Council (LEPC) b. London Economic Road Map c. Update on Central Council Wilma de Rond 6. Roundtable updates 7. New Business 8. Chairperson s Closing Summary and Review of Action Items 9. Adjourn Next meeting: March 15, 2017, Councilors Lounge, Middlesex County Building, 399 Ridout St N Proposed meeting dates - 2017: April 19, June 21, September 20, November 15. 2018:January 17, March 21 1
Minutes LMLIP Employment Sub-council Date and Time: January 18, 2017 1:00 3:00 pm Meeting Location: Councilors Lounge, Middlesex County Building, 399 Ridout St N Item Description 1. Chair s Opening Remarks Present: Wilma de Rond, Jennifer Hollis, Nancy McQuillan, Pauline Andrew, Yenny Medina, Bill Pigram, Kim Godin, Christelle Desforges, Ayshin Mousavi, Huda Hussein, Maria D Souza Regrets: Bharati Sethi, Martin Withenshaw, Robert Collins Guest: Michael Haan Wilma de Rond welcomed the group and guest, Michael Haan, Canada Research Chair in Migration and Ethnic Relations, Western University. 2. Adoption of Previous Minutes Motion to approve November 16, 2016 meeting minutes was moved by Pauline Andrews, seconded by Nancy McQuillan and approved. 3. Additions to Agenda Pauline requested the addition of We Are Middlesex. 4. Annual Implementation Plan 2016-2017: Updates - Wilma de Rond a. Immigration Fact Sheet: Michael Haan/Wilma de Rond Michael Haan requested the group for clarification on the type of data being sought for inclusion in the fact sheet. The group noted the following: The main purpose of fact sheet is to be informative and present positive facts about immigrant employment. There is a widely held view that immigrants cannot find employment in London and the group would like to dispel that myth if untrue. Most information is anecdotal and supporting facts and figures are required. Questions they would like answered are: - Are employers hiring immigrant talent? - How many immigrants does London have and where are they coming from? - How old are they? - What are their educational/occupational backgrounds and what work are they finding? Michael observed that: Outside major metropolitan areas it is difficult to identify discrete data especially in cities with smaller populations such as London. He has access to data from T1 Information, Update, Action, Lead and Due Date 2
General Income Tax Forms which individual Canadians use to complete their personal income tax return. The information from these forms is being used to map economic outcomes across Canada. For measuring economic outcomes, the government considers individuals as immigrants if their earnings have not yet converged with the general Canadian population. Permanent Residency is linked to SIN numbers, helping identify immigrant movement and economic outcomes. Michael looks at immigrants locations to see where they are moving to. Are they staying on? Are they employed, starting their own businesses, employing others? On the personal front, are they married; have dependents, access benefits for themselves or their dependents? The data only allows him to identify the sector that immigrants are employed in and not their occupations. He noted that tax file data can sometimes be supplemented by census data and depending on requirements, could possibly be a better source. He does not recommend using census data because immigrants do not always answer household data surveys and may possibly be under represented. The first data release from the 2016 census will be on February 8, 2017 and will cover age and gender. Later this year, landing records will be linked to census data and will show if immigrants current occupations match their original one. Data is likely to show that London has lower underemployment than Toronto. Education levels need to be tabulated across immigration categories. How much post secondary education do immigrants in refugee and family classes have? Very little information is available on secondary and tertiary dependents since immigration applications generally focus on principal applicants. Michael will review the Sub-council s request and return with suggestions to the April meeting. As requested to at the last meeting, the LMLIP approached the Windsor Essex LIP for information on how they funded a similar project. They responded that they did not receive any additional funds and coordinated with their local work force development board. Session with the Small Business Centre: Pauline Andrew i. Action Item: Session in 2016-2017: Update The Wheable Centre for Adult Education would prefer to hold the session after the March break. Pauline has proposed various dates and is awaiting confirmation from the coordinator at Wheable. Wheable has also been asked if they would like to change the format of the session. Presenters from the April 2016 session who had expressed their interest in participating again this year will be contacted. A successful immigrant entrepreneur who had attended previous sessions and went on to set up his own business will be requested to provide a testimonial at the event. Ontario Works recipients are being informed of the process at the Small Business Centre. b. Celebrate and recognize employers and immigrants who have successfully engaged in offering and securing meaningful employment within the community: Wilma de Rond The criteria for immigrant and employer nominees were decided at the last Sub- Nancy will provide Wilma with info on apprenticeship awards 3
council meeting. The next steps now are to develop a nomination form and a process based on similar community awards such as the apprenticeship awards. c. I am London social media campaign: Maria D'Souza The launch of the campaign, originally scheduled for the end of January, has been delayed. All members will be informed once a date is finalized. Around 14 nominations have been received so far and next steps will be decided after the work group meets next week. d. Identify gaps in knowledge related to coordination and collaboration: Wilma de Rond/Hussein Service providers lack of awareness of others programs, the lack of referrals to other agencies due to misconceptions/misinformation on criteria for referring clients and/or a fear of losing clients was discussed. Numerous services and funding streams can also cause confusion amongst service providers. Huda noted that Immigration, Refugees Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has requested local immigration partnerships to host information sessions to increase referrals. Members suggestions to address the knowledge gap were: Compile a service directory similar to Windsor. Huda noted that the LMLIP already has a directory of settlement services. The LMLIP is also currently working with Community Engaged Learning (CEL) students at Western to develop an interactive map of services for immigrants in London. Host an interactive information session similar to the Employer Resource Forum or St. Thomas LIP s Walk With Me event. Holding the session on a Saturday would have to be considered to include frontline workers. Since the event would have to be on a large scale to ensure the involvement of all agencies and funds are not available for a large event, train-the-trainer type of information sessions could also be considered. Create information videos that can be distributed to service providers. Rogers TV will be approached to see if they can provide support. If they are able to, the content of the videos can then be decided. Pauline will contact Rogers TV to see if they can assist 5. Updates from community initiatives: Wilma de Rond a. Local Employment Council (LEPC) A written update was provided. b. London Economic Road Map A written update was provided. c. Central Council Update provided with meeting materials 6. Roundtable updates Christelle: - On January 19 from 1-5 pm The Assemblée de la francophonie de l Ontario will held a consultation in London to contribute to the provincial livre blanc (white paper) on francophone immigration;. - From March 20-30, representatives of Canadian embassies abroad (such as France, Belgium, Tunisia, Senegal, Cameroon, etc.), federal and provincial government will be traveling together in Central-South-West Ontario to inform employers about programs to help them recruit bilingual/francophone Christelle will send Destination Canada info to project staff 4
international talent. Christelle is now looking for agencies to partner with, in London, to organize Destination Canada employer information sessions. Pauline: The last episode of We are Middlesex will be broadcast in February after which reruns will be aired. Episode 6 focuses on business and immigrant experiences in Southwest Middlesex (Glencoe and Newbury). Jennifer: The London Middlesex Immigrant Employment Council (LMIEC) and RBC Royal Bank of Canada are hosting a celebration on January 24 to mark National Mentoring Month. The LMLIP Welcoming Communities Work Group is organizing an event on March 1, 2017 from 1-4 pm focused on the theme of building a welcoming community for immigrants to London & Middlesex. LMLIP members, faith and ethno-cultural groups will be invited to the event that aims to inform, engage and provide networking opportunities to attendees. London Free Press journalist, Jennifer O'Brien, will be the keynote speaker. 7. New business None. 8. Chairperson s Closing Summary and Review of Action Items Wilma thanked the group for their participation and commitment. 9. Adjourn Meeting adjourned at 2:35 pm. Next Meeting Location and Date: Please note that the March meeting has been cancelled. April 19, 2017, 1:00 3:00 pm, Councilors Lounge, Middlesex County Building, 399 Ridout St N. Upcoming meetings: 2017: June 21, September 20, November 15. 2018:January 17, March 21 5