Funding for organizations in Kingston to assist newcomers

On behalf of Citizenship and Immigration Minister Diane Finley, Member of Parliament for Northumberland-Quinte West Rick Norlock announced that the government will be funding in support of four organizations that provide settlement services in the Kingston area.

On behalf of Citizenship and Immigration Minister Diane Finley, Member of Parliament for Northumberland-Quinte West Rick Norlock announced that the government will be funding in support of four organizations that provide settlement services in the Kingston area.

The funding that is almost $4 million will go towards providing settlement services that include language training, a mentorship program, community resources referral and finally helping them find a proper job. It is expected that the funding will help more than 500 newcomers to the region and it will be shared by Kendra Noble, Kingston Community Health Centres, Kingston Employment Youth Services and Kingston Literacy.

Mr. Norlock said that the government of Canada believes in immigration and is committed towards helping the newcomers and their families succeed. The services provides the newcomers the help they need to learn one of the official languages of Canada, find a job and settle easily into the community, said Norlock. He added that the success of the newcomers is the success of Canada.

A part of the funding will be invested towards assisting the young newcomers in the region. In fact Kingston Community Health Centres is using the funding to make a drop-in centre where the newcomers will have access to a variety of information that the desperately need.

The Executive Director of Kingston Community Health Centres Hersh Sehdev, said that the funding from the government has increased the capacity of their organization to reduce barriers to health. He also said that the now, they are able to assist the immigrants and government-assisted refugees in making a better life for themselves and their family. These services are breathing new life into smaller urban centres like Kingston and thus, making these places more vibrant and developed with the diverse culture and skills of the immigrants, he added.

The Executive Director of Kingston Employment and Youth Services Michael Harris said that due to the support form the government, the agency has been able to expand their services to immigrants in the Kingston area. He added that the community is really fortunate that the government of Canada recognizes the benefits of working in partnership.

Carynne Arnold, Executive Director of Kingston Literacy said that the funding from Citizenship and Immigration Canada provides an opportunity to the organization to create a centre designed to tailor services to the needs to English-language of the newcomers in Canada.