Latest news with #CentreforNewcomers
CBC
17-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
'Pretty devastating': Alberta charities cut language classes after Ottawa slashes funding
Social Sharing Newcomers settling in Calgary face massive wait times to access free English classes, ranging up to a year, according to the Centre for Newcomers. Now, due to federal funding cuts, the non-profit said those wait times could get even longer. Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has cut funding for some organizations offering Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) as Ottawa plans to start reducing immigration levels. LINC classes are fully federally funded classes that help new arrivals learn to read, write, listen and speak in English. Because of the funding change, the Centre for Newcomers has made cuts to its popular LINC classes — even though around 900 people are on a waitlist. "I think it's pretty shocking news," said Charlie Wang, the interim CEO at the Centre for Newcomers. He spoke to CBC host Jenny Howe for this week's episode of This Is Calgary. "Since the Afghan and then Ukrainian [crises], the waiting list for language programs has been fairly long," Wang said. Bow Valley College, Maple Leaf Academy and Lethbridge Polytechnic have also announced they're scrapping their popular LINC classes. Across the city, Immigrant Services Calgary says 6,199 new Calgarians were waiting for LINC classes as of April 2. Language classes critical, say student, English teacher Marite Rojas, who grew up in Bolivia, moved to Calgary just over two years ago. She waited for about a year before she got a spot in a LINC classroom. "I [didn't] have a choice," she told Howe. "I tried to find another school where you had to pay, but if you don't work, [it's] expensive." "If you cannot communicate with people … you are [isolated] for everything," she said. "You cannot go to the doctor and understand what the doctor said, you cannot open a bank account and read the contracts." Rojas has passed some LINC classes but plans to continue studying English with the goal of eventually attending a post-secondary school. Until the start of April, Maple Leaf Academy offered the classes for free, but the loss of government funding forced the school to shut down its LINC program. "It's been pretty devastating. I'm at the school right now, but it's quite empty and there are fewer teachers, way fewer students," said Kevin Simpson, an instructor and e-learning specialist at Maple Leaf Academy in downtown Calgary. Simpson said some former students arrived in Calgary planning to attend these classes, as part of their long-term plan for building a new life in Canada. "You're teaching them, you're with them every day. You form relationships with people and then you give them this news and you can just see how much it affects them," he said. "Language proficiency is pretty necessary for success in this society. And they are faced with a huge challenge that they, a month ago, didn't face." In a statement, an IRCC spokesperson said funding to support newcomer settlement needs is up 4.2 per cent in 2024-25 from the previous fiscal year. The funding available for supports, like LINC classes, depends on how many newcomers are expected to arrive in Canada. "Since, according to the Immigration Levels Plan, fewer newcomers are expected in 2025-2027, available resources have been reduced to match this decrease, which has resulted in a reduction in service providers," the IRCC spokesperson said. Next year, the annual number of newcomers issued permanent resident status will go from 500,000 to 395,000, then to 380,000 in 2026 and 365,000 in 2027. Calgary's Immigrant Education Society received an additional $450,000 in February to expand its free English classes programming — enough to accommodate five extra classes and an additional 125 students. In an email, the non-profit said the funding is meant to bridge the gap created by the loss of other LINC programs in the city, but it "doesn't really make a dent considering the long wait times." The Immigrant Education Society has around 2,500 new Calgarians on its waitlist. It can take upward of a year to access their classes, the charity said.
CBC
02-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
These new Canadians are voting in a federal election for the 1st time — and it's all about Trump
Gaurav Marik, who became a Canadian citizen two years ago, says the economic impact of tariffs and threats to annex Canada are the most important issues in this election and have him excited about voting federally for the first time. "I feel that when someone attacks you, and especially externally, you feel much more guarded and you try to defend saying that, OK, this is an identity … we all stand for," he said. As Canada's relationship with the U.S. has destabilized since President Donald Trump took office, many Canadians have been swept up by a wave of patriotism. And for newly eligible voters like Marik, that feeling of belonging in Canada has been amplified by the pressure coming from south of the border, galvanizing them to head to the ballot box this election. The Toronto resident was never really politically involved in his home country of India, but says he's become more politically engaged since coming to Canada. He says Canada's relationship with the U.S. is not just about him personally. "Since I've decided to live here long-term, it's going to really change the course of Canada going forward if these tariffs and this sort of confrontation just continues for years," he said. In Calgary, Evaristo Vocaj, who became a citizen in July 2024, also says the biggest issue for him is Canada's relationship with the U.S. Vocaj came to Canada from Albania as an international student and worked at Calgary's Centre for Newcomers for five years. And that spirit of being Canadian and fighting for Canadian values is weighing heavily on him. He says that for immigrants who've gone through the difficult process of becoming citizens, voting matters. "Because of that long process that we've gone through, we feel like we deserve this now and we feel like we definitely have started feeling, more recently as well, that spirit of being Canadian," Vocaj said. New Canadians less likely to vote According to Elections Canada, after the 2021 federal election, 89 per cent of new Canadians reported that they voted. That's less than the 92 per cent of established immigrant voters and 92 per cent of Canadians by birth who reported that they voted. Elections Canada noted that of those New Canadians who didn't vote, many indicated that the reason they didn't cast a ballot was due to having issues with the electoral process, like long lineups at the polls, or due to personal life reasons. But newly eligible voters were more likely to express satisfaction with the way democracy works in this country than those who are Canadian by birth. Naiwen Cao also works at the Centre for Newcomers in Calgary. He is voting for the first time in his life and doing a lot of research ahead of election day. While living in China, he says he was never encouraged to vote. "I feel a sense of responsibility," he said. "I must hear different voices. And I'm very excited to even discuss about my vote, before casting the vote. Because for me, the process is more important than the result." Concerns about immigration policy Though Cao is concerned about Trump's annexation threats, he's also closely watching how the parties are tackling immigration. He isn't opposed to cutting immigration levels, but he wants to see how each party plans to better integrate newcomers into society. "For me, it's more focused on how you settle the people that you have invited into this country, compared [to] how many people you're going to accept into the country," said Cao. Helping newcomers find jobs, affordable housing, access to health care and education are what parties should focus on when it comes to immigration platforms, he said. Even though Marik went through the process of immigration himself, he says he feels resources are being overwhelmed because Canada has accepted too many immigrants. Marik, who studied law, is experiencing first-hand the struggle of finding a job in his field. He says he has applied for more than 250 jobs and has only heard back from "maybe 20 of them, just for an initial interview." "There's too many applicants for one particular job in my sector," he said. Cao says setting immigrants up for success is key because it allows them to feel more accepted in this country. He says he himself felt welcomed by other Canadians and hopes "Canada can stay as Canada" amid ongoing tensions with the U.S.
