December 9, 2022—Halifax—The Government of Canada is committed to the full and equal participation of all women and girls, which is essential to Canada’s economic growth and prosperity. That’s why Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is making it easier for racialized newcomer women to find a job by providing the support and services they need to succeed.
As part of Canada’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence, Lena Metlege Diab, Member of Parliament for Halifax West, announced the Government of Canada’s intent to renew up to $5.8 million in funding until 2025 for 10 projects supported under the Racialized Newcomer Women Pilot. This announcement was made on behalf of the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, and is in addition to the $15 million over 2 years that was allocated in Budget 2021 to extend support for this pilot.
IRCC’s Racialized Newcomer Women Pilot supports the delivery of targeted employment-related settlement services, including work placements, mentorships and job counselling. The Pilot aims to help racialized newcomer women find meaningful work in Canada and progress in their careers. The Pilot supports organizations that deliver programs designed to address the barriers faced by racialized newcomer women, such as gender- and race-based discrimination, unstable employment, and lack of affordable childcare.
As part of the announcement, Lena Metlege Diab visited MetroWorks, a Halifax organization that created the Deep Roots job readiness program. Through this program, participants gain practical work experience and develop their skills and abilities in a Canadian work context, while being supported with job readiness training, employment-related workshops and job counselling to help break down barriers to finding a job.
The Government of Canada also continues to work collaboratively with organizations across Canada dedicated to ending gender-based violence for all newcomers. To help support this goal, the Gender-based Violence Settlement Sector Strategy project was created. This project is a unique coordinated partnership between the settlement and anti-violence sectors that works on gender-based violence prevention by facilitating more action, awareness and multi-sectoral collaboration. The project builds the capacity of front-line settlement sector workers to effectively respond to gender-based violence and offers enhanced services for newcomers and refugees through information, training and tailored resources related to gender-based violence. Over the next 4 years, the project will keep developing a common base of knowledge on gender-based violence across the settlement sector while offering a promising model of trauma informed gender-based violence prevention programs for clients accessing services, including those in smaller cities and rural areas.
