By Mable Elmore
British Columbia is a vibrant multicultural society, welcoming immigrants from across the globe. Our diverse communities provide rich cultural, artistic, spiritual and culinary experiences. When making the life-changing decision to immigrate, many chose our province for its wide array of opportunities – in education, employment and quality of life.
We are fortunate that these opportunities attract educated and skilled workers to our province to help contribute to our economy. In fact, it is expected immigrants will be needed to fill about one-third of the one million jobs expected to open up in B.C. by the end of the decade, to meet labour market needs and continue to fuel economic growth. However, we need to be able to provide the supports for these immigrants to help them settle and become full members of their new home. That’s why the changes the federal government is making to B.C.’s immigrant settlement services are so astonishing.
On April 12th, Federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced that the federal government is centralizing settlement and immigration services, pulling out of agreements with B.C. and Manitoba that provided shared provincial and federal services – agreements which gave these provinces the ability to maximize the impact of settlement funds through coordination and development of programs with the nonprofit sector.
The B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Yukon, and Northwest Territories offices will now all be centralized in one office in Calgary.
B.C. has long been praised as a leader in providing settlement services that cater to the unique needs of B.C.’s immigrant population – the largest in Canada, with over 42,500 new immigrants arriving each year. A variety of organizations provide a range of important services including language training, employment programs, housing programs, and other settlement services that cover everything from social and income assistance to public legal education.
The federal changes, made with no consultation with stakeholders, mean B.C. will lose important controls over the direction of these organizations. They mean B.C. will lose the unique expertise and face-to-face service of workers in settlement services when the office moves to Calgary. With a centralized system it will be very difficult to provide the same diversity and culturally appropriate services, such as individual language groups, as communities do now.
Perhaps most troubling is that the B.C. Liberal government has not spoken out against these staggering changes, which leave new British Columbians without access to the first-rate services our province is known for.
In Manitoba, the government has taken a very strong stand against Ottawa’s unilateral action. The Manitoba legislature has in fact passed a resolution calling on Ottawa to immediately reverse its decision in order to maintain the successful Manitoba immigration model.
The extent to which B.C. has been left out in the cold on these changes is clear. The B.C. Liberals’ immigration task force, established just a few months ago, was clearly caught off guard with the federal changes and has no plan to challenge them. It is more than ironic that Premier Clark continues to insist “Canada starts here,” but fails to come to the defense of these unique and essential services for new Canadians starting here.
Adrian Dix and the New Democrats have raised our concerns in the B.C. Legislature, calling on the B.C. Liberals to take a stand and advocate for services that support the vital contributions immigrants make to our province’s cultural and economic well-being.
Mable Elmore is the New Democratic MLA for Vancouver-Kensington and
Official Opposition Critic for Multiculturalism.
