Settlement services play a key role in supporting newcomers settle in their life in Canada. Settlement services help new Permanent Residents get work, find a new place to live, learn English or French, and most importantly, help them to excel in their life in Canada. Settlement services become even more crucial during the pandemic when newcomers find situations similar to that in their country of origin, in Canada.

To ensure adequate support, Canada’s minister of Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC), Marco EL Mendicino, has announced an investment of $100 million for the next three years through the Service Delivery Improvements (SDI) process.

The SDI 2020 funding was launched by IRCC in 2020 to fund the process of settlement from 2020 to 2021. A total of 78 projects have been selected for this by IRCC. These projects target on integrating newcomers into their new communities and helps the settlement sector recover from the effects of the pandemic.

These are a few projects the government is concentrating on, this year:

• The University of Windsor’s artificial intelligence: this will test whether artificial intelligence can be used effectively to strategize settlement for newcomers using rapid response leveraging.
• The accessible community counseling and employment services connecting Canada: the employer engagement driving settlement mechanism helps in connecting newcomers with the employers in urban and rural communities before they arrive, and this helps them to find a suitable place nearer to their workplace.
• S.U.C.C.E.S.S: this is an anti-oppression framework to combat elements of racism in immigrant services.

Most of the settlement services have been moved online owing to the situations presented by the pandemic. Increased Service Delivery Improvements (SDI) funding will help IRCC determine the various services needed by newcomers, considering the increased reliance on online service delivery.

Service Delivery Improvement (SDI)

The SDI’s purpose is to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the settlement programs. Under the Expression of Interest (EOI), SDI funds short-term and indirect service projects, focusing on testing new features in delivering high-quality settlement services. These approaches include:

• Leveraging technology
• Increasing employer involvement, and,
• Building the capacity of a sector

SDI partners with organizations both inside and outside the settlement sector to prioritize projects across all the sectors, which is the key to success for the SDI programs.

Check out Owlspriority Immigration’s Canada Settlement Resources to learn more about ways to find a new job in Canada, making your initial days in Canada stress-free and confident, etc.