Recommendations
Many professional newcomers arrive in Canada expecting to practice their profession in their new country – only to find out how difficult and complex the certification process can be. Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the Department of Foreign Affairs should make stronger efforts to fully inform immigrants, before arriving in Canada, of the challenges of credential recognition.
The Provincial Government provides wage subsidies to create employment opportunities. While our employment agencies ensure those funds go as far as they can to create opportunities for newcomers, sometimes those funds run short for the people that could benefit greatly from that first job in Canada. The Province of Ontario should guarantee access to Employment Ontario funding for newcomers.
Newcomer grandparents are often at home caring for their grandchildren, and miss out on opportunities to participate in the community. CIC should allow grandparents and other family members caring for children to access child-minding services, so that they can participate in language instruction classes and other settlement activities.
Kingston City Council recently voted to join the Canadian Coalition of Municipalities against Racism and Discrimination. The Kingston community should support the City of Kingston as it follows through on its commitment to join the Coalition and create an anti-racism program.
The City of Kingston needs to play a role in settlement of newcomers, as well as in the work to create a welcoming community free of discrimination. The City of Kingston should appoint or hire a staff person as Diversity Officer for the City of Kingston.
We need to welcome our newcomers from the very first day. The Province of Ontario should remove the three-month waiting period to access OHIP.
Newcomers, like many Canadians, struggle with the high cost of childcare – municipal, provincial, and federal governments should make childcare more affordable.
Newcomers are more likely to depend on the transit system – particularly in their first year in Kingston. Increased immigration should go hand and hand with increased transit service (coverage, frequency, and service hours).
