Job at the Immigrant Partnership Winnipeg

Community Engagement Coordinator



Position Description
The Community Engagement Coordinator will work alongside the Immigration Partnership Winnipeg (IPW) Coordinator, to facilitate and implement a community-wide strategy for improving the settlement and integration of newcomers in Winnipeg. The Community Engagement Coordinator will facilitate engagement of a diverse stakeholders and community groups in building a welcoming community for immigrants and refugees in Winnipeg.
Background
Immigration Partnerships Winnipeg (IPW) is multi-sectoral collective that brings a new form of collaboration, at the community-level, to newcomer settlement and integration. IPW was designed to establish, facilitate and implement a community-wide strategy for improving the settlement and integration of immigrants.

The IPW is a collaboration of Manitoba Association of Newcomer Serving Organizations (MANSO) and the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg and is overseen by a 23 member council from various stakeholders including business, community organizations and the three levels of government.
Position Expectation:

 Developing and implementing the communication and outreach plan that will identify and integrate partners in the community in accordance with the Immigration Partnership Winnipeg Council strategy;



 Through outreach to, organizing and facilitating ethnocultural community meetings work to identify community needs and issues that will contribute to the implementation of the IPW Welcoming community strategy in Winnipeg.

 Oversee the practical arrangements for ensuring that people from all sections of the community (community leaders and key people) are actively involved and contributing to the community development process, as part of IPW strategic planning and implementation;

 In collaboration with IPW Coordinator, prepare briefings on emerging issues and facilitate stakeholder involvement in addressing these issues.

 Supporting IPW project meetings, consultations and events with logistical support, including planning and coordinating meetings and events, drafting agendas, minute taking, booking space and other assistance as required;

　

 Designing and conducting surveys, quantitative and qualitative research and analysis on newcomer needs and services;

 Organizing and delivering community consultations, focus groups and other stakeholder groups;

 Developing and disseminating communication and outreach material as well as other promotional materials;

 Provide feedback to communities by publishing a quarterly newsletter on IPW strategy implementation.
Experience and Qualifications:
 Advanced degree in community development or non‐profit management



 Excellent organizational and project management skills

 Proven skills in developing and implementing media materials on sensitive public issues

 Keen understanding of diversity issues and experience of working in multicultural settings

 Ability to work with volunteers and representatives of the public and private sectors

 Proven track record of working with multiple stakeholders to ensure collaboration

 Effective communication and public speaking skills

 Bilingual–English/French is an asset; knowledge of other languages is strongly preferred.

This is a full time one year contract position with a strong possibility of continued employment contingent on continued funding. The hours will take place primarily during regular business hours but there may be substantial evening and weekend work required.

The salary range for this position is $50,000 - $60,000. Selected candidate must be legally entitled to work in Canada. Employment Equity is a factor in selection. Applicants are requested to indicate in their cover letter or resumé if they are from any of the following groups: women, Indigenous people, visible minorities and persons with a disability.
Please submit your resumé and accompanying cover letter no later than Wednesday May 11th, 2016 by 12:00 PM to:



Coordinator,

Immigration Partnership Winnipeg (IPW)

info@lipw.ca

We thank all who apply. Please be advised that only those selected for an interview will be contacted. Your cover letter, resumé and/or application must clearly indicate how you meet the qualifications.

Live-in Care-giver Program Needs Changes

Unlike most other temporary foreign workers in Canada, participants in the Live-In Caregiver Program (LCP) are eligible to apply for permanent residence after completing 24 months of paid employment within a period of four years. The LCP was introduced in 1992 to address a lack of live-in workers to care for dependent people. It is estimated that a total of 17,500 former caregivers, their spouses and dependants will be admitted as permanent residents in 2014.

Few studies have addressed the economic and social integration of LCP workers after the program or explored how different types of caregiving — for children, disabled people or older adults — affect integration. This study helps fill these gaps through extensive qualitative research, including interviews and focus groups with 58 live-in caregivers.

One main finding is that caregivers’ temporary status and the live-in requirement often lead to inequitable working conditions and even exploitation (e.g., no extra pay for working overtime). The authors show that caregivers of children deal more often with employers who fail to comply with their contracts than do caregivers of older adults. However, caregivers of adults experience more restrictions on their personal movement and are more socially isolated, given that they have to attend to their clients all the time.

Key factors that prevent live-in caregivers from successfully being integrated economically after they complete the LCP include losing recognition of previous training/skills, long and expensive upgrading processes, and limited use of settlement services. Successful social integration of LCP workers after the program seems to be hampered by their attachment to ethno-specific networks, and their difficulties with the procedures for obtaining permanent residence and family reunification.
To improve the economic and social integration of live-in caregivers during the LCP, the authors call for removal of the live-in requirement. In their assessment, caregivers would thus be less likely to experience some of the inequitable working conditions that they reported. The authors also suggest that consideration be given to allowing caregivers to apply for permanent residence upon arrival in Canada.

Noting that the federal government introduced regulatory changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program in 2013, the authors call for stronger enforcement of employment and labour standards, including on the part of provincial governments. They further suggest the removal of the requirement that caregivers obtain a study permit for credit courses longer than six months while in the program; and they recommend increasing funding for immigrant organizations to make their services more widely available to caregivers in the LCP and to make former LCP workers more aware of such services after completing the program.

Fear of the Other - America Immigration Dilemma

Why do we fear each other for no apparent reason? do we fear because we are reacting to some cave man trigger that the stranger is coming to eat out their food? What if I tell you that is not true? What if I tell you that the stranger is coming to ensure you get more food, more than you can eat in a lifetime? Why do people immigrate? Why do they go through all the humiliation, the hardships and the risks? What if they are coming to work to put honest food on their families' table and what if by helping a woman to nurture a child you might be helping her with another Einstein, another Mozart, another scientist who will have the answer to our medical problem, who will find a definitive cure for cancer, what if you knew that? Would you still deny those people entrance into a country with so much to give? Please let us open our minds and hearts as human beings. What is oneness of mankind is truly the only reality, what it by starving one part of you your are starving and killing yourself. What if when we are all healthy then we all with experience the best health? http://www.alternet.org/books/hate-and-fear-underscore-immigration-debate-america?akid=11060.35630.JYK5hu&rd=1&src=newsletter912238&t=18

By The Canadian Press | The Canadian Press – 1 hour 46 minutes ago

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. - Some newlyweds now face a new rule the government says is designed to combat marriage fraud.

The regulation applies to Canadians or permanent residents who bring their spouse to Canada from overseas.

They'll now have to live together in what the government calls a legitimate relationship for two years or the sponsored spouse could lose permanent resident status.

The rule will only apply to those who have been married less than two years and have no children together at the time of their application.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says sometimes the sponsor in Canada is being duped and sometimes the marriage is actually a commercial transaction.

He says implementing a two-year conditional permanent residence period will help deter fraud and the victimization of Canadians.

The conditional status will be waived in cases where there is evidence of abuse or neglect or where the spouse already in Canada dies.

The new regulation will apply to all applications received after today.

It follows measures introduced earlier this year also aimed at sponsored spouses.

Those rules require a sponsored spouse to be a permanent resident for five years before they in turn could bring a partner or spouse to Canada.

__._,_.___

Food for thought

Please feel free to comment on these issues dealing with immigrants and immigration. Through dialogue we all get a greater understanding of some of the issues.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/stone-immigration/?pagewanted=print

Immigration Backlogs eliminated

Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - March 2012

The latest immigration intervention by the government is stirring controversy over a big move to purge backlogged applications.

The decision was announced as part of the annual budget released this week to the public. In it, the Conservative government has included over $130-million in refunded fees for those whose applications were in queue before 2008. The applications will no longer be processed.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney hinted at the move earlier this month when speaking to the Economic Club of Canada in Ottawa.

“I do think that we can’t continue to tell people that they’re going to wait for eight years for a decision on whether they can come to Canada,” said Kenney in his speech. “It’s not fair to them and it’s not fair to our economy.”

Kenney pointed to New Zealand as an example of a successful intervention by the government to eliminate an immigration backlog. In 2003, that country passed similar legislation which reduced waiting times drastically.

Approximately 284,000 applicants and their families will be affected. Those who still wish to apply for immigration will have to start the process from the beginning, which now takes only about one year to complete.

However, as many critics are pointing out, there is one major catch in that the immigration regulations changed in 2008. Previously all sorts of occupations qualified under the Skilled Worker Immigration category. Since 2008, only 19 occupations qualify.

Furthermore, the language requirements increased at that time. Many hopeful immigrants who had applied before these changes, therefore, would no longer be able to apply.

Those who have applied since 2008 will be unaffected. Approximately 160,000 applications are currently in that processing queue.

Source: Globe and Mail

Websites of interest to immigrants

This website gives current information  on the latest breaking news on Canadian Immigration!  I encourage you to check it out every now and then. Let your voice be heard.
http://www.cicnews.com/

Canadian Immigration news - has information about visas, employment, business opportunities
http://www.migrationexpert.com/canada/visa/canadian_immigration_news.asp