Feds bring millions to Scarborough to aid settlement
Funding provided for three local agencies
Some say Canada's federal government still isn't doing enough to help immigrants adapt to life in Toronto and prosper here.
But this week, standing next to Immigration Minister Diane Finley, Cherry Wang looked happy.
Wang came to Canada from China in 2006 to start a new life with her husband and gave birth to a daughter soon after.
But the Scarborough woman felt depressed, she said. "I was scared and lonely and did not have any friends or family in Canada," Wang added Thursday in a roomful of settlement workers and people they have helped.
Staff at the Mennonite New Life Centre on Birchmount Road helped Wang renew her permanent residency and apply for subsidized day care. She made new friends at the centre and it became like a second home, she said.
"I'm very excited about my new life."
Finley came to announce $10.5 million in federal program funds for local agencies, including the New Life Centre.
That money is in addition to $9.2 million for immigrant services in Scarborough from earlier this year, some of which turned a Midland Avenue building into an Immigrant Resource Centre run by the Centre for Information and Community Services.
Statistics show immigrants who arrived in the last 10 years are not doing as well as those who came before, said Finley, who cut a ribbon at the CICS building.
"That's not acceptable and we have to change it. We cannot let newcomers fall behind."
Poor English skills are "the main barrier which holds us back," said Vaishali Shah, who thought her English was good before she arrived from India three years ago. "I was a high school teacher back in India and I was using English very often."
Through classes at Catholic Cross Cultural Services, Shah said she's become more articulate and her English is smoother and more natural, "which really helps me close the communication gap between me and the native speakers."
The bulk of the money Finley announced Thursday is heading to Catholic Cross Cultural Services ($4.5 million), Mennonite New Life Centre of Toronto ($2.6 million) and the Canadian Arab Federation ($2.5 million).
Dr. You Zhi Tang, CICS acting president, said Immigration Canada "has recognized the urgency of the need" in the area and its $6.2 million in support for CICS this year has helped the agency "realize our dream of a one-stop services site."
The building's second phase will be a "youth development hub" offering education and recreation for young people, he said.
Finley later defended Bill C-50, a reform of Canada's immigration law passed in July. Opposition politicians didn't like the power it gave the minister to skip over some immigration applications in favour of others.
But Finley said the improvements will bring in skilled workers faster and stop the growth of an application backlog. "We cannot have people waiting six years to get into this country," she said.
"We're working as fast as we can. We've redeployed staff, we've redeployed resources," Finley added. "We are making great headway."
