Community Vitality in Action

Immigrant Employment

Story:

Many cities across the country are seeking ways to successfully integrate immigrants into the labour force, and the need for systematic improvements in the hiring and inclusion of new immigrants in the workforce has become clear. Community foundations are, in some cases, at the forefront of these efforts.  Vancouver and Kitchener-Waterloo are two examples of community leadership by community foundations.

In 2005 the City of Vancouver established the Mayor’s Task Force on Immigration to examine immigration issues at a local level. Key among its recommendations was the idea of holding a Summit on Immigrant Employment, with a focus on galvanizing action for systemic change. City council agreed, and allocated funding.

As a key stakeholder, Vancouver Foundation agreed to be a co-convener of the Summit and to lead a process of consultation leading up to it.  At the same time Vancouver Foundation was working with the Employment Access Strategy for Immigrants (EASI) executive committee to transition their work on immigrant labour market integration to a new Immigrant Employment Council, with funding support from the provincial government.

On October 22, 2008 the Metro Vancouver Leaders Summit on Immigrant Employment was held and the formation of the Immigrant Employment Council of BC (IEC of BC) was announced.  IEC of BC’s primary goal is to find and implement solutions to eliminate the barriers immigrants face when entering the labour market in British Columbia.

In Waterloo, the Waterloo Regional Immigrant Employment Network (WRIEN) is the direct result of the Immigrant Skills Summit held in the Waterloo Region in April 2005. It received three years of operational funding, including grants of $50,000 per year from The Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation’s (KWCF) Community Fund.

Rich Janzen, Research Director at the Centre for Research and Education in Human Services (CREHS) comments, “KWCF was one of the first groups to capture the vision of the Immigrant Skills Summit and is continuing with support for WRIEN. They’re part of a group of visionary funders who took that entrepreneurial risk.” Rich adds, “Our community is smart, we’re strong and we have the heartfelt commitment to make WRIEN a success.”