5. Conclusions and Outcomes from the College and Institute Immigration Roundtable

The diagnostic survey helped to identify the types of programs and services offered by colleges and institutes to immigrants within their communities, including initiatives to facilitate the recognition of foreign credentials. It also shed some light on the barriers faced by colleges and institutes in effectively delivering these programs and services and the barriers immigrants face in accessing them. The lessons learned begin to give some direction in terms of where colleges and institutes can best make a contribution to the successful integration of immigrants, in collaboration with federal, provincial and municipal governments.

The federal government’s initiative to develop the Immigration Internet Portal, and ACCC’s contribution in the form of profiling the types of programs and services immigrants can access at colleges and institutes, is a first step in enhancing the collaboration between the federal government and colleges and institutes in this area. The Immigration Roundtable enabled representatives from colleges and institutes and federal government departments to discuss future areas of collaboration. The roundtable participants recommended that a college and institute process model for the integration of immigrants be developed and integrated into this report, and also identified a strategy which describes the next steps ACCC and colleges and institutes will take to move forward with the immigration agenda of colleges and institutes.

5.1 College and Institute Process Model for the Integration of Immigrants

Participants at the Immigration Roundtable recommended that a process model be developed that would encompass a comprehensive suite of programs and services which colleges and institutes can follow and adapt when developing programs and services aimed at facilitating the integration of immigrants within their communities. This model is inspired from the Maytree Foundation’s “Systems Approach to Facilitate Labour Market Entry for Skilled Immigrants”, and includes some initial support and integration services that could be offered initially at overseas sites and then continue in Canada. The overseas pilot project refers to the Maytree Foundation and college/university consortium initiative described in section 2.5.

The model is provided on the following page and includes the following main components:

• Information access for immigrants through the Immigration Portal and Orientation to Canada sessions.
• Assessment services that can begin overseas and continue in Canada: language skills, PLAR, academic credentials and professional work experience.
• Advising and counselling services to facilitate program entry and completion and entry into the labour market.
• Education and training programs that range from English and French as a second language, occupation-specific language training, support for entry into career/technical, applied degree and university transfer programs, bridging programs, co-op and work placement programs, workplace training and community-based training.